Evangelion:Ghosts and Echoes
by Jurato Rocks
Summary: In a Post-Third Impact world, Shinji and Asuka must repair their damaged relationship if they want to survive the hostile and frightening environment they find themselves in. But with ghosts of their past haunting them and a threat older than Lilith and Adam themselves hunting them from the shadows, will they live or will humanity's true and final judgment come to pass?
1. Where Does My Happiness Lie?

_****__**Chapter 1  
Where does my happiness lie?**_

**Authors Note: **I just want to give a big thanks to FourthImpact for helping me get this story out here..."Sniff"..."Sniff"...you've been a rock dude you really have! "Begins to wail like a child"

Reviews are most welcome.

Also picture idea by me, made by the wonderful DeviantArt artist Zoe-sp, thanks muchly!

**Disclaimer:**Wait what? you mean i don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion? damn that was some crazy dream i had then...or was it?

Seriously though, i don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any characters connected with it.

* * *

Tokyo-3 lay desolate and silent in the now apocalyptic landscape that surrounded it. The vast city, once bustling with activity, was nothing more than a graveyard housing the splattered remains of the now merged populace. The remains of the city were, however, beautiful in comparison to the nightmarish vista just on the outskirts of the city. The enormous head of Lilith, formerly Rei Ayanami, lay half submerged in the Sea of LCL, the one eye left to her staring manically out towards Tokyo-3. Surrounding the near vicinity of Lilith and the beach were the crucified forms of the Mass Production Eva series, now forever shut off, the blood red sea lapping gently at their feet. The nearby beach was not by any means a real beach; it was mostly made of dirt and mud. Small wooden posts stood erect in the mud as gravestones to those who had been lost to the Sea of LCL.

Lying on the beach was the body of a young boy, Shinji Ikari. The young boy's clothes and hair were slightly matted from previously emerging from the sea of LCL and was trying his best not to breathe in too much due to the fact that the LCL smelled of blood. He stared directly upwards, unwilling to look in the direction of the disembodied head that had driven him mad; he was sure that his sanity would be lost once more if he looked into her eyes again. Ever since Shinji's reformation into one mind, his memories had become addled. There were some things he remembered and some he had forgotten, Rei Ayanami and how her true form Lilith had terrified him being one of them. Returning to individuality had also numbed his perception of time, even though he had been lying on the beach for merely a day or two, Shinji himself believed he had been there for weeks, months even, and the loneliness in his heart threatened to drive him over the edge again.

The thought of falling into madness again brought back the awful memories of how he had lost his mind the first time, the final straw being the death of Asuka and Unit 02. Upon seeing Unit 02's dismembered corpse being carried by the MP Eva's, Shinji did not need to be a qualified Nerv scientist to know what had happened to Asuka.

In what would be her final battle Asuka had brought herself back from the pit of despair, accompanied by an incredibly high synch ratio and had decimated the JSSDF and had apparently defeated the MP Evas with ease, but it wasn't to be. The MP Evas regenerated their bodies with help from their S2 engines and launched a prototype Lance of Longinus that had pierced Unit 02, just as her power had run out, and Asuka Langley Sohryu was left to the mercy of the Eva series. With her synch ratio so high, Asuka was torn apart with her beloved Unit 02 and finally impaled by all nine of the prototype Lances.

Knowing this, Shinji couldn't believe that this horrible fate had befallen Asuka, the girl he cared for, and so his mind had fallen into darkness, though this wasn't the only factor.

A hollow and barely audible laugh escaped Shinji's lips as he thought, "_It...it all...started with Asuka...and ended with Asuka_."

Shinji's mind began to wander further back into the past as he thought of Asuka's mind rape at the hands of the fifteenth Angel, Arael, and of course Kaworu, A.K.A Tabris, whom Shinji had to kill. These events, coupled with Asuka's horrific demise, had contributed to Shinji losing the will to go on. He knew there was more to it than that but his brain refused to yield his memories to him. Even with all these events in his mind, Shinji could not stop thinking about the fiery red head he had cared for, his mind drifting back to when his despair began.

* * *

"I HATE YOU SHINJI, I HATE EVERYTHING!" cried Asuka.

Shinji stared at the German girl's back, shocked by her rage. Asuka had just been extracted from Unit 02's entry plug and she had been in a black mood ever since, though Shinji knew this was not the usual moody Asuka, she was more agitated than normal. He knew that the Angel had attempted to study her mind and he had come to her filled with concern. Shinji had come wishing only to help, though now he was beginning to feel as if his presence was making things worse.

"Don't say that Asuka, you don't mean it" said the boy lamely.

Within an instant, Asuka was up on her feet and was within centre metres of Shinji's face, her expression one of pure hatred.

"What do you know about me, Ikari?" she said calmly. "How do you know I don't mean that? You think that you know me and how my mind works? You think you know me so well? I can't believe how arrogant you are!"

"I-I-It's not arrogance... I just w-w-want to help you Asuka," stammered Shinji, frightened by her anger.

At Shinji's remark, Asuka's voice raised an octave as her anger reached its boiling point.

"Oh you wanted to help me, did you Shinji?" she asked. "Where were you when that thing was...defiling... defiling my mind, where were you then?"

Shinji could only stammer as Asuka continued her tirade. Commander Ikari had held Shinji back from leaving Nerv but now that Asuka had confronted him about it he began to realise he could easily have disobeyed his instructions and at least try to help Asuka.

"Instead of the Invincible Shinji coming to my rescue, it was Wondergirl and I'd rather have died inside my Unit 02 than let her rescue me!"

"But Ayanami was only trying to help you, Asuka!" wailed Shinji.

"I don't need her help and I don't need you either, I don't need anyone!"

"But Asuka I care about you, your my-"

A resounding slap rang out as a red mark appeared across his face. Shinji turned his head around slowly to face Asuka and he could see her face was a mixture of emotions, mainly anger.

"Liar." She said her voice barely above a whisper.

Finishing, Asuka turned and stormed off, and for just a second Shinji could swear that he had seen tears in her eyes.

Shinji stood staring at the spot Asuka had occupied moments before, tears stinging his eyes from Asuka's slap.

"_Does she really feel that way about me? Does she really hate me that much?"_He thought to himself_._

Shinji brought his hand up to his cheek where Asuka had slapped him and rubbed the spot gently.

_"Why do I have to feel this way about HER, why did it have to be Asuka Langley Soryu that I...that I fell for? I mean she probably doesn't even like me. All she ever does is insult me and treat me like an idiot. All I wanted to do was help her and she slapped me for it. Maybe I am the weird pervert Asuka claims that I am all of the time –it's the only thing that could explain my liking someone who hurts me so much."_

Shinji shifted his gaze to the slumped form of Evangelion Unit 02, cranes and other machinery preparing to move it back to Nerve HQ.

_"But do I hurt her too? I wish that I knew, all I want is to help her. I want to know what she went through during that attack because maybe it's the same thing I went through when I became a part of Unit 01, then I could help her."_

Shinji's eyes misted over as he turned away from Unit 02 his expression becoming pained.

"_But as usual she just pushes me away_._Why did she react like that? Why does she always get so angry? It's as if she expects me to understand her and when I don't..."_

Shinji began to move off in the direction of Misato's car as his thoughts continued to swirl.

"_She'll never care about me the way I care for her. She'll never let me in. I'm just a worthless, pathetic coward, so what's the point?"_

Shinji's thoughts trailed off as he entered Misato's car. In no time, the Major arrived and they left for home, Asuka having to leave for a check-up at Nerv HQ. As Shinji watched the scenery whizz by as the Major drove in her usual lunatic manor, Shinji had his last thought on Asuka-

"_Probably best just to leave her be for now." _

As Misato took a sharp corner and his face and the passenger window formed an intimate relationship.

* * *

"_Why do you think of Pilot Soryu, Ikari?"_

The voice was familiar and seemed to resonate in Shinji's mind, though he couldn't seem to place where he had heard it before. The voice's soft, feminine and emotionless tones almost seemed to be caressing Shinji's mind, and he was immediately filled with peace, but this was soon replaced by fear. Why was he frightened of that voice and why couldn't he remember it?

"Who...who are you?_"_he called out.

"_I am no one. I am complete and at peace with my existence and I merely wish to help you, Ikari."_

The voice fell silent at this, as if believing that what it had said was an adequate response. Shinji accepted the answer for the time being and waited for the voice to speak again.

"_Why do you think of Pilot Soryu, Ikari?" the voice repeated._

"Because...because I miss her...and I need her...I want Asuka." He replied.

_"But why? She has always treated you with contempt. What makes you think that SHE would want YOU?"_

The voice's response did give Shinji pause. Why did he want Asuka back? She had never treated him with any kind of respect nor had she indicated any form of desire for him.

"_I know all about your little jerk-off fantasies about me , go on do it like you always do, I'll even stand here and watch; but if I can't have you all to myself, then I don't want anything from you!"_

The memory of Asuka and her statement reminded Shinji of Instrumentality. Every person in the world had joined together as one, and therefore they had all of each other's memories. There were things that Shinji knew of Asuka that no one had ever told him, things about her mother, her step-mother, so surely that must mean that what Asuka had said was true.

Surely it meant that Asuka herself had admitted to wanting him?

"Because she cares about me like a care for her, because when she's here I'll know where my happiness lies."

The voice seemed to consider this as silence once again fell over the beach, it only being broken by the sounds of LCL lapping gently at the dirt and mud.

"_But what if your happiness lies in loneliness? What if you find that is what makes you truly happy?"_the voice whispered, suddenly.

"I was never very happy being alone when there were people in the world and I don't suppose it would be any different if I were the last person alive," he replied.

"_Is it out of a selfish desire on your part not to be alone or do you truly want Pilot Sohryu by your side?"_the voice whispered.

_"Yes, of course I do, of course I want Asuka, we know each other well, even more so now. I know that I hurt her and I know that I was wrong to think that she didn't care, but I can't spend all the life left to me wishing I could change that. I have to move forward."_ Thought Shinji.

There was a moment of silence, and when the voice replied Shinji could sense the smile in the voice as it spoke.

"_Then so be it. I wish you and Soryu luck."_

Shinji was confused, what did the voice mean was Asuka going to be brought back or not? Turning his head Shinji stared out at the floating corpses of the crucified MP Eva Series, it took a while but as Shinji stared at their faces, he recognised the voice.

"Aya...Ayanami...Rei."

All at once Shinji's courage and determination came screeching to a halt as memories of Ayanami and her transformation into Lilith came back to the forefront of his mind, he began to remember why he had feared her voice and doubt and indecision began to plague his thoughts. All the confidence he had in him that told him that Asuka would accept his love and return it dissipated as he remembered what Rei and his mother had told him before he returned to one form, that everyone with the will strong enough to return, would. But Shinji had been here for so long, or so he believed, and no one and returned, had Rei lied to him? Had his own mother lied to him? Was she doing this to be cruel? After all, his mother had been the one in control of Unit 01 when it had gone berserk and had activated the Eva without need for a pilot on several occasions, the final time being when the Eva had been encased in Bakelite. That time the Eva had waited until Asuka had been brutalised and torn apart before it had broken free and allowed Shinji to pilot it. Could he really trust what Ayanami or his Mother had told him? Could he put his trust in anyone ever again?

"_I don't know. Instrumentality...was it the real Asuka that talked to me or...or was it my mind like in the Sea of Dirac?"_

Shinji's doubts began to overwhelm him as fear of loneliness and being rejected also began to swallow him up. It was then that it hit him; the Asuka that he had seen and that had told him that she wanted him had been his perception of Asuka. In short, Instrumentality hadn't been initiated at that point.

"No, I couldn't take her rejecting me, I don't want to feel worthless again!"

he screamed in his head.

Shinji's expression became harrowed as his eyes widened, he knew that pain and anguish were as much a part of life as pleasure and happiness, but he couldn't accept the thought of Asuka still hating him. Hearing a soft splashing sound Shinji turned his head in the direction the noise had come from, catching sight of Rei standing upon the surface of the water.

"_No, please Ayanami I don't want Asuka back, I don't want to hear her say those words again!"_he pleaded in his mind.

**I hate you Shinji **

As Rei disappeared Shinji sat up and continued to stare at where she had been. Slowly, he became aware of something in his peripheral vision, turning his head to see the form of Asuka Langley Soryu staring up at the stars, her beautiful blue eyes seeming almost lifeless.

Shinji stared at the girl for a while, unsure of what to do. The fear of rejection and being hated was becoming stronger as millions upon millions of scenarios scrolled through the young boy's head, all ending the same way, with Asuka rejecting him. Shinji's whole body began to tremble as he looked over the young redhead's body, hugged tightly by her red entry plug suit. Asuka's wounds from the Eva series had been bandaged; her arm in a cast and her right eye wrapped, but for some reason it did not detract her from her beauty. Shinji began to feel a mix of fear and arousal as he stared at her, his attraction to Asuka and his fear of what she would do fighting each other to help Shinji to decide what to do. Her slim but curvaceous body was complimented by her plug suit topped off, in Shinji's opinion, by her beauty and red hair and he began to feel the same way he did when he accidentally revealed her breasts in the Nerv hospital.

Upon thinking this, the memory of his masturbation over the comatose girl flooded his mind and he knew at once that Asuka would know about this also, that she would never forgive him for dirtying her, and at long last the turmoil in Shinji's mind ceased as he decided what he should do.

"_She'll just hate me and then leave me alone again; I don't want to hear those words. I'm sorry Asuka, but there are so many things that I want from you that you'll never give me!"_he rationalised.

Moving from his sitting position, Shinji moved across the top of Asuka and slowly began to wrap his fingers around her neck. Shinji's attraction to the young woman resurfaced as he felt how soft her skin was and for a moment he toyed with the idea of caressing her face, his resolve, however, did not shake so easily.

"_No, just get on with it Shinji, she'd only slap your hand away and call you a baka, just get...on...with it,"_he thought pathetically.

As the young boy continued to stare into the German girl's eyes, his hands gripped her neck tighter, causing Asuka to gasp slightly at the pressure he was applying. Given his desperation, Shinji did not have a lot of time to notice much going on around him, but he was slightly surprised by Asuka's lack of response to his actions. Surely the amazing Asuka Langley Soryu would never want to be killed by a creature as pathetic as him?

As if in answer to his curiosity, Shinji became aware of Asuka's arm moving and her hand slowly travelling upwards towards his face. In no time at all Asuka's hand had slipped gently over his left cheek and she had begun to caress his face lovingly. As her soft, bandaged, hand stroked his face, Shinji's mind erupted in confusion.

"_Why...Asuka? You don't...like me remember, you hate me_..._why are you doing this_?"

"_She likes me she really likes me!"_

"_Her hand is so soft"_

_"But she hates me she told me so herself!"_

_"Why didn't you lash out at me like I expected you to?"_

_"Why do I feel this way about you?"_

Asuka's hand continued to stroke Shinji's face as her fingers traced their way to his chin, where they lingered gently before letting her arm fall to the ground.

As Asuka's hand left Shinji's face his thoughts calmed and he felt a strange clarity come over him.

"_Asuka...you...you do care about me, don't you? Is this what it's liked to be loved? Does my happiness lie with you?"_

As Shinji's continued to stare he felt tears sting his eyes and he could no longer keep his emotions in check anymore. The emotionless exterior he had exhibited since he removed himself from the Sea of LCL finally cracked and the young boy began to cry, his head resting gently on Asuka's stomach.

"I feel sick" said Asuka.

* * *

Asuka lay on the beach not too far away from Shinji, her body battered and bruised. Most of her wounds had been healed by her merging into one with the entire populace of the planet, although even she wasn't too sure where the bandages had come from. Her arm, which had previously been sliced in half, was aching and her eye, which had been pierced by the Lance of Longinus, was throbbing, although she wasn't too sure if he still had an eye anymore. Although her appearance suggested she was calm, she was in fact seething. Asuka was angered by Shinji and all he had done. At this moment in time Asuka despised Shinji Ikari.

"_First came my death at the hands of the MP Eva's, painful and horrific,"_thought Asuka_. "Then came existence as a whole, as one entity, as "we" instead of "I". I was with mama again. I was in heaven. I was truly happy."_

Asuka became aware of movement on her right and Shinji came into her vision, moving into position on top of her. The young boy positioned himself so that he was looking straight into Asuka's eyes; the red head herself stared right through him, as if he wasn't there.

"_It would damage my pride to have to admit this to anyone, but I was grateful, thankful to Shinji for accepting Instrumentality for giving me that sweet existence, to be one with everyone; and then the First Child gave Shinji control over Instrumentality and he rejected it. I hoped that maybe I would stay merged in the Sea of LCL, but here I am, existing as one again with him."_

Shinji wrapped his hands around Asuka's neck and squeezed tightly. At first surprised by both his audacity and lunacy, Asuka became filled with joy as his hands tightened. If Shinji were to kill her, perhaps she would rejoin the souls in the Sea of LCL and she would be whole again. It began to dawn on Asuka that perhaps Shinji had been changed by whatever he had experienced in Instrumentality, perhaps now he understood her.

"_I would have preferred for him to understand me when the world was intact, but for once he's doing something that makes me happy."_

As Shinji continued to strangle her, Asuka began to feel dizzy; stars began to dance in front of her vision. Slowly she raised her hand and caressed his face, her gift to Shinji.

"_I did like you Shinji, you just never seemed to notice when I flirted with you, and I hated you when you wouldn't hold me, when you wouldn't noticed that I wanted you. I know now our flaws stopped us from being together, but it doesn't matter anymore, not now. End my suffering, mein liebe."_

As Asuka's hand reached Shinji's chin she let it linger for a few moments before allowing it to fall to ground. She waited for the darkness to take her, to take her back into the arms of her mother, but it seemed that her plan had the opposite effect on the young teenager. Shinji's eyes widened to their fullest as what happened finally sank in; his hands began to tremble as he removed them from Asuka's throat. Asuka felt hot tears drop onto her face and she realised that Shinji was sobbing, his head moving to rest on her stomach.

"_Maybe I was wrong,"_she thought.

Shinji began to bury his head in Asuka's stomach causing her to feel sick; she had wounds on the front and back of her body from where the Eva series had impaled her, and Shinji rubbing his head was not only causing her great pain it was also making her feel incredibly nauseous.

"I feel sick." she said.

* * *

At the sound of Asuka's voice, Shinji raised his head, tears streaming across his face, and stared at her. An incredible feeling of joy overcame him to hear her voice again.

"Asuka...I'm so glad...that you're all right," he sniffed.

Asuka lifted herself up gently, wobbling slightly as she put her one good hand out to support her. Shinji, seeing her wobble, moved forward and wrapped one arm around her shoulders and the other held her hand in his own, steadying her. At Shinji's touch Asuka reacted strongly.

"Don't touch me Ikari, get your hands off me!" she screeched.

"Asuka, I was only trying to help!" shouted Shinji.

At this, Asuka scoffed and pushed Shinji away with all the strength her good arm had left and stood up.

"If you were really going to help, you'd have killed me when you had the chance," she said.

"What are you talking about Asuka? Do you want to die?" asked Shinji.

"Yes, because that existence was wonderful. Me and mama were together again and it was so much better than this."

Finishing, Asuka threw her good arm out indicating the entire area, her face contorting in disgust. Shinji summoned up all the courage he could muster. If Asuka really did care for him then he had to do all he could to keep her here, to keep her safe.

"But Asuka, that life wasn't really a life at all. Isn't it better to exist as one person and have individual thought, to be real instead of just a consciousness floating in a void?"

Asuka continued to stare at him as silence permeated the beach. Shinji stared back, his heart beating unspeakably fast, his mouth dry, all the while hearing the incessant flow of blood rushing in his ears. Would she try to kill herself just to go back to that existence? To Shinji's surprise, Asuka's face suddenly sagged and she brought her good hand up to her face and she began to rub her temples.

"Ugh, forget it, I'm in no mood for arguing and my head is pounding." Asuka said her voice barely above a whisper.

Shinji stood up and was by her side in an instant, worry etched across his face. Asuka looked up from her hand and dared him silently to put his arms around her again, though she couldn't stop herself from feeling somewhat happy that he was concerned for her.

"It's all right, Baka Shinji, I just stood up too fast," she said, reassuringly.

The tone in which she had replied to Shinji surprised not only the young boy, but Asuka herself. Why on earth was she trying to comfort him?

"_Why do I care if he cares about me? I can't still...still like him...no, I don't give a...dam-"_

Without warning, Asuka doubled over and began to retch, her arms now wrapped around her waist; it felt as if acid was burning through her stomach.

_"Oh god, not this type of sick, it'll just make me wanna puke even more,"_she thought.

Stumbling forward, Asuka was about to fall over when Shinji lurched forward and tried to catch her, but the young redhead put her hand up as if to tell him she was all right. Asuka's head began to loll around as her dizziness and nausea caused black spots to dance across her vision. She couldn't believe it, she was about to faint!

"Shinji, halten mich," she spoke in her native tongue.

Shinji caught Asuka just as she collapsed and instantly fell to the ground with her, panic beginning to grip him. As he held her Shinji proceeded to shake her.

"Asuka, Asuka!" he shouted.

Realising he was fighting a losing battle, Shinji decided it was time to leave this place and see if he could find somewhere where he could make Asuka comfortable and keep her safe. Looking around at the almost alien like environment that the world had become, Shinji decided it would be best to head up to the top of the nearest hill and scout the area out. Before he left, Shinji knelt next to the unconscious girl and raised his hand to her face. He hesitated for a second, his hand shaking gently, before caressing Asuka's cheek with his right hand. The young boy's eyes became filled with sadness as he continued to stroke her face.

"Asuka...I promise that I'll be back...I p-p-promise..." he trailed off.

Standing up, Shinji made his way to the small hill that overlooked the beach. It took a while to climb; the mud and dirt that formed the hill were wet and sludgy and he slipped several times. Reaching the top, mud encrusted and sweaty, he was shocked by the sight that met him.

It was the remains of Tokyo-3

"I thought...I thought that the JSSDF nuked it?" he whispered."But half of the city is intact; I can even see Misato's apart...ment..."

The young boys voice trailed off as he remembered Misato Katsuragi, and the last time they had met. Shaking the sad memory away Shinji decided that they may as well head for the only place they could ever really call home in this world. Having made his way back to the beach, Shinji was in the process of picking Asuka up when the memory of Misato came back to him and a thought occured to him. Picking Asuka up in piggy-back, Shinji made his way over to the makeshift graveyard he had set up.

The "graveyard" could hardly be called such a thing, due to the fact that it was made up mostly of driftwood and debris pointing towards the sky. Though they did look all similar, each "tombstone" had an identifying and unique feature; they were inscribed with the names of the people Shinji had known and missed.

"Sorry Ritsuko, Maya, Toji...well everyone really...I-I have to go now, I have to help Asuka but I promise that I'll come back and lay flowers...well if flowers still exist in this world," he said, laughing nervously as he shifted Asuka on his back. Turning slowly, Shinji looked directly at the only tombstone bearing any kind of memento, the one that stood out the most. The grave in question was adorned with a small cross shaped necklace, held onto the wooden post itself with a rusty nail. There was an inscription underneath that read

"Misato Katsuragi."

Shinji inhaled a deep breath as he continued to stare at the grave marker. Silence once again enveloped the area as the boy struggled to find the words to say. Unable to think of anything, Shinji reached out and took the small cross from its position before he finally found the words to express himself.

"Sorry for being so useless before, Misato. I hope we meet again one day."

* * *

Rei watched the retreating form of Shinji Ikari, with the pilot of Unit 02 on his back, making his way along the beach. She watched and smiled, if her knowledge of both Ikari and Soryu was correct, whilst they would argue relentlessly, they would form an unbreakable bond in this new world and they would find the happiness that they had longed for. Ayanami wondered why she cared if Shinji and the Second Child grew closer. Perhaps it was her "motherly" instincts kicking in. Whatever the reason, Rei knew that she would have to watch over them. There were many new dangers lurking in the world now and they could push both Shinji and the Second Child to their psychological limits, but she had to have faith in them.

Rei continued to stare after the retreating form of Shinji as he disappeared over a nearby hill, when the atmosphere became instantly colder. Turning this way and that, Rei noticed that the LCL had calmed and was no longer lapping at the shore; in effect the Sea of LCL had become as flat as a millpond. There was a presence, something incredible, huge even, and it filled Rei with awe and fear.

A frisson of electricity passed through her body as she became aware of a something, a presence behind her.

"_No, not behind me, all around me."_she thought.

It was then that it spoke.

** You are an abomination of the Lilim, a facsimile of Lilith, but Lilith nonetheless**

While Rei indeed knew what the being had said to her, she became aware that it had not actually used a voice to speak; it had made Rei aware of what it wanted to say by implanting the statement in her head, almost as if she had just spontaneously thought of it.

**My heart and soul where wrenched from me, the lives I had cared for, the existences that I had cultivated for so long, destroyed by the whim of a child. Not only that, but the Lilim themselves desired destruction, for what may I ask? To be on par with God, to be reunited with their dead loved ones again, at the cost of their living kin. The gift of life given to them by you, Lilith, was truly wasted on them.**

"What...who are you?" Rei asked

**I am everything and I am nothing. It matters not what or who I am to you, what you should worry about, Lilith, is what will happen to the meagre smattering of your Progeny that still exist upon this desolate world.**

It took a moment for Rei to realise what the being meant, but when she did her thoughts immediately landed on Shinji and Asuka. She could not allow Ikari's chance of happiness be ruined, not by anyone.

"You will not harm any of them," she stated flatly

**They are undeserving of the gift of life, the Lilim have no respect for the sanctity and sacred value of life, and so their true judgment has been passed by the one who as has cared for them since their first ancestors were born. You need not worry about the Souls that still swim in the ocean; they will join with me and perish. My avatar will care for those that have reformed.**

"Why are you telling me all this," she demanded, in her monotonous voice.

**Because they are your spawn, Lilith, but they are mine by adoption. You at least have the right to know what I intend for them. I know that you still have power in this world, but I will not be stopped in my intent, your power will wax and wane, Lilith, and then the boy and the girl will be mine.**

The finality in the being's statement was not lost on Rei. Her thoughts were still on Ikari and Soryu. She would have to try her best to hold whatever this being was off for as long as possible, but she would need the Second and Third Child's help eventually.

It seemed romance might have to wait...

* * *

It had taken a while, but when Shinji had finally reached the ruins of Tokyo-3, he was awestruck by just how different it had become. There were no streets anymore; they had all been covered by filth and mud, overturned cars decorating every which way. The city itself exuded an eerie silence that reminded Shinji of when he had first arrived in this city, just as the Third Angel had attacked. Looking around he noticed that most of the buildings were indeed intact, but the power had long since failed in the area. Deciding it was best to think about all this later he made his way to Misato's apartment, hoping that Asuka would still be all right, it had become cold all of a sudden and dark overhanging clouds threatened snow.

The young woman herself was still unconscious upon Shinji's back but it didn't stop her from moaning and grunting occasionally. Shinji found it cute in an odd way.

"Don't...don't...don't come near me with that pastry...not with that pastry...I said get lost Shinji. I don't want...don't want any fucking pastries...my stomach hurts..."

The tone that she had finished with reminded Shinji of a small child telling their teacher that they didn't feel well, and he could only smile. At least she wasn't having any nightmares; that at least was good.

"Don't...leave...me Shinji...please...I didn't mean it...don't leave me like...mama did...if you get me an...indigestion tablet...I'll be fine," she whispered.

Shinji didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for her, but decided for now to keep his concentration on getting to their home.

"Don't worry Asuka, I'll never leave you. I'm going to protect you," he said softly

As Shinji turned a corner he was met with the sight of Mistao's apartment; his shoulders sagged slightly with relief when he saw it.

"Thank god. We're here Asuka, just couple more minutes and we'll be safe and sound.

The one thing Shinji hadn't realised when he scouted out the city was just how far away it was, and just how far away Misato's apartment was from the beach. Staggering into the forecourt of the apartment complex, Shinji prepared to lay Asuka on the ground for a moment so that he could catch his breath when something caught his eye from the reception area. Picking the young girl up again, Shinji made his way into reception, stopping to push the sliding doors open manually; most doors were electronically powered. When they entered, Shinji was pleasantly surprised by what had caught his attention. Against all the dark and grey colours that made up the reception area, a vase of red and white roses stood out sitting at the main desk.

"Red roses" he said quietly."Maybe it was just human life that was extinguished."

Making a mental note to come back for them, Shinji picked Asuka up in a piggy-back once more and made his way up the stairs. The journey upwards was tiring; Shinji silently cursed both Misato for choosing the 7th floor to live on and Asuka for being so deceptively heavy.

"Jeez...ugh... for someone so skinny, Asuka, your pretty heavy," he wheezed.

Reaching the top floor, Shinji made his way to the apartment and found that he would have to open the doors manually again. After a few minutes' struggling, Shinji entered carrying Asuka and made his way to the living area, stumbling his way through complete and utter darkness. Miraculously, Shinji managed to find the sofa without injury and gently laid Asuka on it. After a couple minutes of rest, Shinji decided to take a look around. To his surprise, the apartment itself was in tip top condition; just as he liked it. Going into the kitchen, Shinji groped around in the darkness for the cupboards and eventually found what he was looking for, candles and matches.

After lighting a couple in the kitchen, Shinji set a few up in the living room, and headed to his bedroom. Emerging with several sheets and quilts, he was in the process of draping a couple over Asuka when the young woman awoke and lurched forward from her prone position on the sofa.

"Ugh...agh...OUT OF MY WAY!" she shouted

Shinji, at first surprised, realised what the matter was; she needed to be sick. Shinji decided it was best to set the living room up as a makeshift bedroom, reasoning it would be better for them to sleep together and that, curiously, the living room always seemed to be the warmest in the whole apartment. After about five minutes of tidying up and setting up, Shinji brought Asuka a glass of water. Entering, Shinji found the young red head with her head lodged in the toilet bowl, grumbling, but what really hit him was the smell of blood. Rushing over to Asuka's side the young red head pulled her head from the bowl and gave him an utterly pathetic look.

"Oh...it's not just sick Shinji...I think I'm throwing up LCL...it's worse than any other time I've been sick," she said lamely

"Here I got you a glass of water, there isn't any power in the apartment so we haven't any heating or electricity," he said." I've turned the living area into a  
bedroom."

Asuka, taking a sip from the glass of water, swilled her mouth out and vomited into the bowl again. Swilling her mouth out once again, she eyed Shinji suspiciously.

"Why did you do that?"

"Well there isn't any heating and it's getting colder. The living room always seemed to be warmest, especially in the colder months, so I thought it would be better for us to sleep in there...and I thought it would be easier for me to look after you," he added, a blush coming to his cheeks.

Asuka's face contorted in a scornful expression as Shinji finished, she clearly wasn't impressed by his honest answer.

"I don't need you to look after me, Ikari, I'm fine on my own," she said

Shinji was in no mood for her anger or her scorn, and found himself matching her hateful look, much to the German girl's surprise.

"Just stop it Asuka, please!" he pleaded, his voice slightly raised. "We can't afford to keep arguing like this. We need to look out for one another now."

Asuka was taken aback by his statement, the Shinji she knew would have just apologized and slunk away to do something in the kitchen, but he was fighting her for once; it was somehow, annoyingly, attractive to see Shinji so resolute. Forcing that thought in a dark corner of her mind, Asuka found that she couldn't let this drop.

"Oh, you want to us to look out for one another now, do you Shinji?" she said, with a mocked sweetness. "I thought that was what we were doing when we fought the Angels. Hell, I thought we should look out for one another when we, no scratch that, I had to fight off the JSSDF and the MP Evas. Funnily enough I don't have a recollection of Unit 01 helping me fight. Were you looking out for me when you tried to kill me on the beach, Baka Shinji"

The last part was like being hit across the face to Shinji, and he found that his hands were shaking. Why couldn't SHE try to understand for once instead of fighting everything and everyone? Clenching his fist together, Shinji answered Asuka as calmly as he could.

"I'm not going to ask for your forgiveness, Asuka, because I know you'll never give me it and I'm not going to explain myself to you, at least not yet. I just want you to know that we've both been given a second chance, and no matter what, I'm going to make it up to you, even if you don't want me to."

Asuka knew full well that she had hit a nerve. She couldn't ignore the sincerity with which he had spoken to her. It was infuriating, however, for Asuka to find that Shinji had changed, not too much, but very noticeably. It was as if he wasn't going to run away anymore.

_"How can Instrumentality have changed him so much? When he started to cry on the beach I thought it was just the usual, pathetic Shinji, but now I don't know. It's as if he's finally let go of something that's been weighing upon him for a long time."_

Deciding that it was best just to try and get on for now, Asuka sighed heavily and looked straight at Shinji.

"Fine then, just...just don't get on my nerves okay, Ikari?" she said, a small smile playing on her lips.

Shinji relaxed when he saw Asuka smile, small as it was, and he returned one of his own.

"I promise," he said, smiling."Um...Asuka...Would you like to clean yourself up?"

"With what precisely?" she asked, her eyebrows rising slightly.

"Well, the cooker is gas powered and I could put some water into the big soup pan and heat it up, then you could use a sponge or something to clean up...to clean up your wounds." He added the last part with a lot of trepidation. Shinji was desperate to find a way not to annoy her, and he didn't think bringing up the past would help, but he truly did want to help that Shinji had both thought of and was willing to do something for her, Asuka couldn't help but blush slightly. When she replied there was a slight quiver in her voice.

"Than...thank you Shinji, that'll be fine." She said, not looking him in the eye."Could you go into my room and get me something more comfortable to wear?  
I'm getting sick of wearing this plug suit; it's sticking everywhere."

Shinji tried his best not to think of which parts of Asuka's body that her entry plug suit was sticking, and took a deep breath before replying.

"Sure thing Asuka, I'll be back in a couple of minutes." He said happily.

As he left, Asuka stood up from the toilet, her stomach finally settled, and stared at herself in the mirror. As she began unwrapping her eye patch, Asuka found that she was horrifically nervous as to what sight she would be met with when she opened her eye; would it be as bad a mess as her stomach and chest? Asuka had always known that she was attractive, if she wasn't getting a locker full of love letters then she constantly had to go on blind dates, but it scared her that she may be disfigured, that she may have lost the only thing she really had left. After a few minutes, Asuka gulped a lungful of air and opened her eye.

* * *

Misato's kitchen was freezing and all Shinji could do to keep himself from dying from hyperthermia was to hum to himself, and wait for the gas-fueled flame to heat up the cold culinary room. The melodic sound of _Ode To Joy _reverberated around the kitchen, as the candles that adorned every worktop and desk flickered and danced to the sound of Shinji's humming. The soft clicking of a ladle joined in with Shinji as he stirred the water. All of these noises continued for a while before the young boy's face twisted into an incredulous expression. Stepping back from the cooker Shinji looked from himself back to the soup pan.

"Wait a second, why the hell am I stirring this, and why did I put this apron on?" he said to himself." It's not soup I'm making; I'm just warming the water up for Asuka."

Taking the apron off, Shinji threw it into the corner before going back to the cooker, when the sound of giggling caught Shinji's attention.

"Asuka, is that you?" he asked, slightly nervous that he couldn't see anyone when he turned around.

"Are you finally doing something because you want to, Shinji, and not because someone's told you to do it?" asked a familiar voice. "I'm glad."

Shinji continued to stare in the direction of the sparsely lit living room, unable to believe that the owner of that voice had even spoken.

"Mi-Misato?" he said, voice quivering slightly."Misato is that you?"

Emerging from the darkness was the form of a tall purple haired woman, Major Misato Katsuragi. Dressed in her usual red leather jacket and form fitting black dress, Misato smiled and gave Shinji a thumbs up as she wandered slowly into the kitchen and leaned gently against the kitchen table, her arms folded across her impressive chest.

"Don't worry; I have good news and bad news. You're not going mad, I am real Shinji, but I'm not really here, but that doesn't matter right now. What I want to know is, are you ready for this Shinji?"

"Ready for what?" he asked, still perplexed by what was going on.

"Are you ready to accept responsibility and act like an adult now?" A calm, caring expression creasing her attractive features.

Shinji thought about what she had said. Wasn't he acting like an adult when he piloted the Evangelion? Didn't he accept the responsibility to protect Tokyo-3 and the world from the threat of the Angels?

"I don't understand Misato, what do you mean?"

The Major's features twisted into a frown as she answered.

"I mean that you have no one but yourself to make decisions now Shinji, I'm not here to make the plan of attack. I'm not here to guide you anymore; you have to make your own decisions now, just like Instrumentality. If you make a mistake you have to stick by that mistake and not try to blame others, if you do something right then you pat yourself on the back later and get on with it."

Shinji turned and placed the ladle on the kitchen worktop as he thought about what Misato had said. She was right, he needed to be strong, he needed to believe in not only others, but himself.

"You've already proven that you're capable of this, Shinji, when you took Asuka away from the beach, but I want to know if you yourself believe that you're  
ready," she said

It took a while before Shinji could answer, but when he did, he looked Misato with an expression she truly had never seen adorn the young boys face; resolute and strong.

"I am, Misato, all I want is to protect Asuka and make up for failing her, and I'm going to do that no matter what."

Misato smiled at her young ward before pushing herself up from the desk and walking to the exit that led to the living room.

"Then goodbye, Shinji," she said

"Wait. Will I ever see you again Misato?" he asked

The major looked over her shoulder at the young boy, and smiled sadly.

"One day, Shinji, one day."

And with that she disappeared through the walkway, leaving Shinji to wonder what exactly had just happened. Was it like Rei on the beach, or was he really going mad?

* * *

Shinji walked carefully through the living room on his way to the bathroom, trying not to spill the hot water all over the carpet. As he reached the bathroom however, he could hear Asuka sobbing gently. Laying the soup pan on the floor, he began to knock on the door.

"Asuka? Asuka are you alright?" he called, worry beginning to grip him again.

When he received no reply, and against his better judgement, the young boy opened the door and was met with a sight that brought a blush to his cheeks. Asuka was sitting on a stool with the top half of her plug suit removed and hanging about her waist, looking at herself in the mirror. Shinji stared at the young woman unable to think what to do. He examined her naked back and he could swear that his nose was going to bleed, but all nefarious thoughts fell from his mind as he stared at the thick welts and coarse scabs that covered her back. There were nine stab wounds dotted across her back and Shinji's thoughts dwelled on how she had come to receive them.

"_It's my fault that her body's been scarred like that, they look as if they'll never heal. Asuka..."_his thoughts trailed off as he continued to stare at her.

Turning around, the young redhead gave Shinji such a look that he could only describe as beautifully sad. The way her hair fell across her shoulders and the sad yet relieved expression she had on her face and the way her eyes sparkled with her tears made his heart race. Asuka stared at him for a second before realising the young boy had entered without her permission and that she was partially naked, and she began to shout in German.

"Shinji verdrehten Sie Lustmolch! Kommen Sie heraus, bevor ich Sie töte!"

A couple of bottles of shampoo ,conditioner and a toilet duck were launched in Shinji's direction to clarify what she meant, as Shinji dashed back on the other side of the door. After shutting the door, Shinji heard the muffled sounds of Asuka removing the rest of her plug suit as she muttered curses and his name in German. Leaning against the wall Shinji began to feel something niggling at him, something to do with Asuka. As he replayed what had just happened, a smile spread across his face as he realised.

"Her eye...it's better."

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened with a splintering crack as Asuka marched out. Standing in front of Shinji with her hands on her hips, her expression betrayed her anger and disbelief.

"Didn't you promise not to get on my nerves, Baka Shinji?" she said calmly

Shinji could only stare at the sight before him, to all the world his Asuka was back. He had always loved the way that she stood with her hands on her hips, for some reason Shinji saw it as a picture of confidence and surety. He also saw it as a picture of arrogance at times, but certainly not now. As he continued to stare, he was brought back to reality with a slap across the head.

"Are you listening to me, Shinji?" said Asuka, her voice raised slightly.

Shinji rubbed his head and replied.

"I'm glad your eye is better, Asuka, and I'm sorry for not knocking it was just that I heard your crying and I thought something was wrong. The water's all ready for you, by the way," he finished, indicating the soup pan.

Asuka was taken aback once again, this was where they were supposed to argue about him being a perverted baka and she was supposed to act as if she didn't want Shinji to see her nake-

"_What am I thinking! Of course I don't want him to see me naked...ARRGHH why does he have to be so... different now I don't know how to behave around him."_She thought.

"I wasn't crying I was just...I was...I was laughing. I just wasn't sure if my eye was going to be all right that's all," she said, hurriedly

Shinji tilted his head and smiled again.

"It's okay Asuka; do you want me to get you anything, clean clothes or anything?"

Asuka thought for a moment before answering.

"What are you stupid? didn't we have this conversation already?" she said."Well considering how cold it is, get me my shorts and a t-shirt from my room and...and one of your shirts," she added trying hard not to look Shinji in the eye.

"Why one of my shirts?" he asked

"I want to stay warm, don't I? Your shirts are baggy on me," she clarified.

Shinji nodded his affirmation and set about his tasks. Asuka watched him all the way to her room, her hand resting on the door frame. Her face sagged slightly as a small, barely perceivable smile crossed her lips.

"Baka Shinji."

つづく

To Be Continued.


	2. A Crystalline Night Sky

_**Authors note:**__**Once again, my eternal thanks to FourthImpact...to be honest it's probably an obligotory thing to have to thank him every chapter so i should probably have some fun with it!  
**_

_**Also reviews are most welcome!**_

_**Disclaimer: No i don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion...or so i've been told...**_

_**Name Pronounciation; CARE-IS-TEE-NAH**_

* * *

_**A Crystalline Night Sky **_  
結晶ナイトスカイ  
_**Chapter 2**_

_She was lying in the forecourt of Misato's apartment and Shinji needed to be with her._  
_  
__Shinji moved towards her body, tears falling freely, he couldn't believe what they had done to her body, her beautiful body. Her right arm was split into two and her left eye was bleeding profusely as she lay staring with her good eye in Shinji's direction. Shinji moved close, within touching distance and observed the various holes in her plug suit, all bleeding as profusely as her eye. Shinji could only stare in horror at what had happened to her._

_"Where were you?" she asked._

_Shinji was transfixed by the gruesome image before him and it took a while before he realised that the young woman was speaking to him. Turning his head slowly he looked the young woman straight in the one good eye she had left, his face became twisted in agony as he tried to answer her question._

_"I...As...Asuka...I...I'm sorry," he said lamely._

_Asuka's features became filled with rage as Shinji continued to stammer and apologise._

_"Don't you dare apologise to me you moron! Where were you when i needed you most? You were cowering in some corner that's where!" she screamed._

_The young boy began to cry as he reached out to the redhead, attempting to take her hand. As soon as Shinji's hand came within a centre meter of Asuka's, the young woman snatched her hand away and snarled._

_"Don't you touch me!"_

_Shinji recoiled from her rage and tried his best to articulate himself but could only stutter and stammer._

_"Asuka...I...Unit 01...my mother...I...I-I-I'm sorry..."_

_Asuka sighed and turned her head and stared off, unwilling to look at Shinji. After a period of silence, she began to speak, refusing to look at Shinji._

_"All I ever wanted was to be happy Shinji. All I ever wanted was to be loved and cared about and now because of you I'll never have that."_

_Shinji stared at Asuka unable to think of anything to say, his mouth flapping open and shut. Before he could say anything, an ear piercing roar erupted throughout the forecourt, causing both Shinji and Asuka to look up in the direction it had come from. There, standing up on top of the apartment building were several creatures looking something akin to a gigantic vultures. Shinji knew that they were familiar to him, but he could not place them. Without warning the creatures lunged from their lofty position and descended upon Asuka, throwing Shinji backwards.__As Shinji picked himself up he heard the tormented, horrific screams of Asuka Langley Soryu. Running forward, he attempted to fight his way through them but the creatures formed an impenetrable wall._

_"LEAVE HER ALONE!" He bellowed."Get away from Asuka. Stop it, don't hurt her please!"_

_As Shinji punched and kicked at the creatures, a small opening in the impenetrable wall that they formed appeared and Shinji pushed his way through the gyrating and jostling creatures. As soon as he made his way to the centre he began to feel an uneasy bubbling feeling in his stomach as he stared at the sight lying on the floor before him. Lying on the cold hard concrete was the now desecrated and dismembered body of Asuka, her plug suit ripped apart and her body cut to ribbons. Surprisingly, her face had remained perfectly intact; save for her eye. The creatures had calmed slightly but were still attempting to consume her body. Realising Shinji's presence Asuka looked up at him and began to scream._

_"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, SHINJI. I HATE YOU, SHINJI. I HATE YOU!"_

_Asuka continued to scream over and over again these words as Shinji put both his hands over either side of his head, covering his ears, unable to take the onslaught of hatred pouring out of the German girl. Unable to take anymore Shinji screamed back._

_"ASUKA! FORGIVE ME PLEASE, ASUKA!"_

* * *

"ASUKA!" screamed Shinji.

The young boy jumped up from his sleep, awoken by the nightmare. Bringing his hands up to his face Shinji covered his eyes and sobbed gently for a few moments, before turning his head quickly to look over at the far corner of the room at the sleeping form of Asuka. She had insisted that they sleep as far apart as possible, to prevent any sleazy or perverted ideas from forming in Shinji's head; although he knew that she still did not fully like being too near him. Composing himself, Shinji removed his quilt and crawled slowly and quietly across the room, towards Asuka. As he reached her, he moved into a sitting position and watched the gentle rise and fall of the sheets protecting the girl from the cold temperature.

"_Will she ever forgive me for what I've done?" _he thought to himself.

Shinji continued watch the redhead sleep, his mind dwelling upon his nightmare. The images of what he had dreamt began to bombard Shinji, and soon he was unable to contain his emotions anymore.

"Asuka...Asuka..." he whispered softly

Moving as slowly as possible, Shinji lifted the edge of the sheets and moved into the bed beside Asuka. After much thought, Shinji gingerly wrapped his arm around the young girl's waist, being careful to mind her wounds. Pulling himself closer, Shinji raised his head towards Asuka's ear and began to speak, his voice trembling as he did.

"Asuka...please forgive me...I'm sorry for not being there for you when you needed me most...I'm sorry for everything."

As he spoke tears began to sting Shinji's eyes as he remembered both Asuka's actual death and his nightmare.

"I'm going to promise you something Asuka...I'm never going to leave you, and I'm never going to let anything or anyone hurt you ever again, not even me.  
I know that I was selfish before, only caring about my own feelings. I'm not going to break my promises anymore; I'm always going to be here for you...so please...forgive me?"

As Shinji finished, he became aware of a scent, tangy and zesty. Sniffing the air for a few minutes, he moved his nose closer to Asuka's hair and realised that it was her.

_"She must have washed her hair too, she smells gorgeous_."

Unable to control himself, Shinji pressed himself tighter to the young red-head, his stomach pressing up against her back and his face nestled in her hair so much that his nose was brushing the nape of her neck. As he lay next to her, due the combination of their shared body heat and Asuka's scent, Shinji found himself drifting off in no time at all.

"I promise..." were his last words before he fell asleep.

After a few minutes, the young boy's breathing began to level out, and Asuka was sure that he was asleep.

"I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life trapped in this godforsaken place alone with you 'looking after' me," she said venomously.

As soon as she said it, however, Asuka began to feel as if she hadn't really meant it. Asuka had been awake all the while that Shinji had been trapped in his nightmare, everything that he said in his dream, she had heard.

_"I don't really still hate him this much do I? I mean he's changed; he doesn't seem so wimpy and pathetic anymore. Shinji's taking responsibility for himself and me, I mean he even wants to make up for what happened to me, for what he's done to the world. Shouldn't I hate him for that too? Shouldn't I hate him for literally ending the world?_" she thought.

As she lay there thinking, she felt Shinji's hand softly caress her stomach; it felt good against her wounds. Blushing slightly, Asuka thought of removing his hand, waking him up and yelling at him for being a presumptuous pervert.

"_But I'm not going to, am I? The combination of his warmth and the fact that...that I actually want him here beside me, is going to make it all the more difficult to push him away. After everything that's happened I should hate him. I should want to throttle him while he's asleep, but I don't and I can't. When I look at him now, I see a different person...and it frightens me...and excites me. It frightens me that Shinji might just be able to make himself into a better person than I'll ever be, and I'll be left behind. It excites me...that part of me...that idiotic, moronic part of me that actually believes that I could find happiness, that I won't have to be alone anymore."__  
_  
Making sure not to wake him, Asuka removed Shinji's arm from around her waist and turned around slowly until she was facing him. Their proximity brought another, smaller blush to Asuka's cheeks; had it been like this when Shinji tried to kiss her in her sleep? Pushing that thought out of her head, Asuka continued to stare at the peaceful, sleeping form of Shinji Ikari.  
_  
__"I don't want to be left behind anymore, I don't want to be alone anymore, or ever again for that matter. I want Shinji to keep his promise but I just can't help myself from thinking that he'll break it, even though there's a part of me that knows the new person that Shinji is trying to become doesn't break promises. I want to be loved; I want the love that I know Shinji had for me and was to afraid to show before, I have to try and be a better person too." _

Taking a deep breath, Asuka realised that she was caressing Shinji's face with her index finger. Quickly pulling her hand away, the blush already on her face becoming redder, Asuka lay there staring at the young boy.

"_I couldn't admit it to him then, I don't think that I ever could, but I really wanted to impress him, after Kaji told me about his synch ratio when he first piloted Unit 01. Then, when we got to know one another, there was this part of me that wanted him, badly. This part of me that saw Shinji as a kindred spirit, that even though our personalities were so very different, we were just like each other. I didn't know it then, but we __**were **__just like one another; we'd both lost our mothers, but we found different ways of dealing with_ _it_.

As she continued to stare at Shinji, Asuka lifted her hand up to his face once more, but this time traced his lips with her finger. Memories of her first kiss came back to her.

"_I was mortified when you didn't react, when you wouldn't even hold me. I hated you, I really hated you, Shinji Ikari; but even then I couldn't help but try to visit you in the hospital after the Twelfth Angel, Leliel. I still cared about you, even though you didn't seem to care for me. I couldn't understand why I still cared about you, and it affected my synch ratio. In the end, all I could do was hate you, Misato, myself and the world. But here we are, Post-Apocolyptia, alone and together and all I can think about is how much I need you, how much I want you. It's probably just selfishness, but I can't even find a part of me that cares what's happened to the world, to everyone else, I just want you to care about me and make me feel real, alive and get rid of this empty void that I feel inside me._

Asuka pressed her body tighter against Shinji's, burying her head in his chest and moving his arms around her.

"_Shinji, please don't leave me alone, don't break that promise, I don't want to hate you again. I don't want to be consumed by hate and pain and loneliness again.__  
_  
A few minutes passed, as the young red-head pressed her body tightly to Shinji's her mind began to dwell on ways to improve herself.

"_Maybe I'll try cutting him some slack. After all, if he's having nightmares he must feel guilty for what happened, and he's already said that he wants to make it up to me."__"_Yeah, that's...that's what I'll do," she said as she finally nodded off.

* * *

Waking early, the memories of last night came back to Asuka as she realised Shinji and herself were entangled. Deciding that she wasn't in the mood to chew him out, especially since she herself had formed a more intimate embrace than Shinji had, Asuka quietly removed Shinji's arms from around her body, followed by the duvet covers. As soon as the young redhead removed the covers, however, she wished she hadn't bothered. During the night, it had snowed, further lowering the temperature, as Asuka soon found out when she went to draw the curtains open.

"Wow, I haven't seen snow since I was a child," she said, her eyes full of wonderment.

Due to Second Impact, the weather patterns of the entire world had shifted and so countries like Japan and Germany had been subject to year-round summer-like weather. Asuka herself had seen snow only once before.  
_  
__"The last time I saw it snow, was when I was four years old, when mama and I went to the UK to visit an old friend of hers. Typical that when the entire world's weather gets hotter, Britain's got colder, it was Scotland though so I s'pose it could be expected."__  
_  
Smiling at the irony, Asuka continued to stare out at what had become of Tokyo-3, the snow giving it an eerie, almost hauntingly beautiful quality. The snow, however, was not the only awe inspiring quality of the morning; the fact that it was still night outside and the dark purplish hue that the clouds gave the atmosphere also surprised the young German girl.

"_Must be something to do with all the snow clouds."_

In fact, the snow clouds were so thick and dark it seemed that they were blocking out any kind of daylight all together, though Asuka did not give it much more thought. As the snow continued to fall, Asuka's mind remained in the past.

"_Was that the last time I was ever truly happy? Sure I loved piloting Unit 02 but...there was always a part of me that felt...empty, that I just kept shoving out of my mind to trick myself into believing that I was happy, that being an Eva pilot was what I was put here on this planet to do...but Unit 02 is gone and I'm still here...thanks to Shinji..."__  
_  
Turning to look at him, Asuka took in the sight of Shinji Ikari. Still asleep, he had rolled over into the space Asuka had left, and was breathing gently, indicated by the slow rise and fall of the sheets.  
_  
__"In a way, I'm kind of glad that Shinji brought me back, if it was him that is, but I still don't understand what he meant."__  
_**  
****But Asuka, that life wasn't really a life at all, isn't it better to exist as one person and have individual thought, to be real instead of just a ****  
****consciousness floating in a void?**

"_I loved that existence, I was with mama again, but I'm back in the real world now, and I kinda like it. It does feel good to touch, smell and taste again, and even though I miss her, I know that mama is always with me.__  
_  
As Asuka continued to think, she felt the cold against her bare legs and the small part of her chest that was visible, and pulled Shinji's shirt around her tighter.

"But the cold is something I could really do without!" she whined.

As she said this, Asuka huddled herself on the floor, pulling Shinji's shirt closer to her face. All at once Shinji's scent hit her, and she couldn't help but keep it pressed against her cheeks.

"_Cinnamon...and something else...lead-y...no...wood...wait a minute!"_

_"_Old books!? why cinnamon and old books?" she blurted out."He spends half his time cooking Japanese stuff; it should be Soya sauce and some kind of fish  
that he smells of!"

In the corner of the room, Shinji murmured and turned around in bed and Asuka held her breath, hoping against hope that he hadn't heard her. Asuka had never really been in a position to take in Shinji's scent, the only time being when they were in close proximity, which hadn't happened a lot, even though they'd been living together. After a few minutes, things settled and Asuka stood up from her huddled position and moved back to the window, her eyes taking on a faraway look again.

"_Why do sights and smells always bring back old memories...?"_

As Asuka's thoughts trailed off, her mind became filled with images of the past, of the last time she and her mother had been happy.

* * *

"_Look at the castle in the snow mama, that's where we should live, with servants dancing to our every whim!"_

"_Asuka this is Professor Cairistiona Mackenzie, an old university friend of mine...She's Scottish you know"_

_"Really mama, I would never have guessed."_

* * *

"Asuka...Asuka are you okay?" asked Shinji.

The sound of Shinji's voice tore Asuka away from her solitary peregrinations so abruptly that she jumped at the sound of his voice. Turning wildly, Asuka lashed her arm out in Shinji's direction.

"Scheisse! Sie Idiot Shinji, Sie erschreckten mich!" she cried in German.

Shinji, expertly dodging Asuka's swipe, jumped backwards, a big smile spreading across his lips.

"Sorry, it's just you've been staring out of the window for 10 minutes and your legs are starting to turn blue with the cold." he explained

"Staring at my legs were you? Who gave you permission to stare at me, huh Baka Shinji?" she said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Well...I...it was just...you..." he stammered, his cheeks turning a bright crimson.

Asuka tried to keep her keen stare firmly on Shinji, but as his face turned red all she could do was giggle.

"You're so easily embarrassed Shinji, good to see some things haven't changed," she said.

"I got you some clothes, here," he said, handing Asuka a handful of clothes.

Shinji, whilst Asuka had been staring out of the window, had gotten up and changed. Now dressed in his favourite reddish-pink shirt and jeans, along with his baseball boots, he had also gone into Asuka's room and acquired some of the clothes he thought would be best for the cold weather. Asuka examined the clothes, Shinji had actually picked out some decent clothes for once, if somewhat odd for winter conditions, though Asuka had no actual winter wear in her cupboard; there was no need for it when Tokyo-3's year round temperature tended to be over 30 degrees. A pair of thick black thigh high socks, a red body warmer, a thick long sleeved jumper with a black undershirt, a short denim skirt and a pair of boots.

There was a moments silence as the two teenagers stared at each other; Asuka was the first to break the silence.

"Baka Shinji, unless you want me to beat you into a bloody mess on the floor, be a dear and go in the other room!" she said

It took a few moments, but Shinji eventually got the message. With a nervous rub of his head, Shinji scurried out of the room in the direction of the kitchen.

"I'll...go...see if I...can find anything for us to eat." he said disappearing into the kitchen.

Asuka watched Shinji all the way to the kitchen, making absolutely sure that he would not be able to see her.

"_Hmph, I could just get changed in my bedroom is suppose...but where would be the fun in that?"_she thought, a satisfied expression crossing her face.

* * *

"So wharf arf we gonna foo?" said Asuka, her mouth full to the brim with sausages.

Shinji, who had forgotten to check the fridge last night for a combination of reasons, had looked into the fridge, whilst Asuka was getting changed, with a lot of trepidation. Would everything in there be moldy and rotten? As it had turned it, the answer had been no, but what had surprised him was that most of the stuff in the fridge had been stuff that neither he nor Misato would have bought; there was a distinct lack of beer and instant ramen, and also a distinct lack of the expansive range of food that Shinji would normally buy. What he had found surprised him, it had turned out that there was a large amount of western food in there, much to Asuka's delight. Upon discovering the contents of the fridge, Asuka had point blank refused to allow Shinji to leave and see if he could scrounge some Japanese style food from some of the wrecked shops, demanding that he cook as many sausages as possible. Shinji had done so diligently, but had found his appetite was lacking once he had served the breakfast up. Staring at the speed at which Asuka was piling away the sausage's and toast, Shinji had lost all awareness of what was going on around him, including Asuka even though he was staring at her.

"Arroo? Earf foo Shinji, wharfs the fan?" she asked.

As Shinji continued to stare, Asuka found herself feeling both embarrassed and annoyed by Shinji's apparent lack of attention to her voice, and the fact that he was staring thoughtfully at her. Swallowing the sausages in her mouth, Asuka picked up a sausage and threw it across the table smacking Shinji across the head.

"Hey Baka Shinji, pay attention to me when I'm talking to you!" she said, her voice raised slightly.

Wiping away the grease that had splattered across his forehead, Shinji rested his elbow on the table and laid his head on his hand.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Are you alright Shinji? You seem a little spaced," said Asuka

"It's just the cold, I'll see if I can trip a circuit breaker or something and see if I can't get the electricity and heating back on today, anyway what was it you said?" asked Shinji.

Asuka continued to watch Shinji for a few seconds. Apart from when he had awoken, Shinji had seemed a little distant, worried almost. Had his nightmare disturbed him that much last night?

"I asked you what the plan was, what are we gonna do for the rest of our lives?" she asked,flippantly

In truth, Shinji had given this little thought, the furthest he had gotten was to make home at Misato's, but he knew that Asuka would not take kindly to the idea that he had no clue what he was doing.

"Well I thought we could patrol the beach and look out for anyone who might've managed to pull themselves out of the Sea of LCL," he said.

"WHAT!? That's your plan?" she shouted.

Standing up from the table, Asuka placed one hand firmly on her hip and began waving a sausage about in the other in Shinji's direction.

"If that's all you could come up with, then it's a good thing I came back when I did, you're useless without me, Shinji," she said cockily.

Shinji was unable to contain a smile as Asuka stood before him waving her food about. Asuka was behaving almost like she used to before they had kissed, when Shinji had made a mess of things. Was she accepting her life here now, her life here with him?

"I'd be lost without you," he said

Asuka, hearing Shinji, stammered and blushed. Deciding to ignore what he, said she went on.

"W-well anyway, first we could start by fixing the generator in this place, then we could scrounge around the ruins of the city and see what loot we can find. If we can find some kind of radio transceiver then we could put out a continuous SOS to see if anyone else in the country has been able to re-form themselves, they should hear it if they turn on a radio."

"Put...out a continuous radio message...Asuka...how many people are going to put the radio on after the world has ended?" Shinji asked with trepidation, knowing full what was going to happen.

Asuka threw another sausage in Shinji's direction, which he dodged, and slammed her hands upon the table. Leaning across the table, giving Shinji the most determined look he had ever seen, Asuka took charge.

"It's better than sitting around the beach waiting for people who may or may not come back. Now get a coat or jacket, Baka Shinji. We're going shopping!"

Upon reaching the reception area, Shinji had asked Asuka if they could make a quick detour to the beach.

"Why? I thought you would never want to see that place again...especially with that gruesome head staring at you," said Asuka

"I promised everyone that I'd bring them flowers, Asuka, I just want to keep my promise," said Shinji

"Everyone? What do you mean?" asked Asuka warily.

Shinji had forgotten that Asuka didn't know about the graveyard he had erected on the beach and smiled, somewhat sadly, as he responded.

"Well I'd been waiting on the beach for so long, days, weeks, months, I didn't think anyone was coming back...so...I made a graveyard as a memorial to the people that I knew. Everyone is there...well except you." he said.

"Why didn't you make one for me?" she asked defensively.

"Because I hoped you'd come back," he said flatly.

Asuka stared at Shinji for a moment, hoping that she hadn't blushed again.

"_Why am I blushing so much lately? Asuka Langley Soryu doesn't blush and shut up heart, stop beating so fast! Will I ever get used to the way he is now?"__  
_  
"Well we can go there first then," she said calmly.

* * *

In the few hours that the two former Evangelion pilots had spent sleeping, the city had been transformed by the snow. At least a foot and a half of snow had fallen, and added to this the purple-ish-red haze that the atmosphere had become thanks to Instrumentality, Tokyo-3 had become an alien planet. This in mind, Shinji was having difficulty making his way through the thick snow, but it didn't seem to stop Asuka from playing around.

"Hey Shinji, catch this!" she yelled, throwing a snowball.

The snowball hit Shinji squarely in the face causing him to slip and fall backwards. As he descended, he could here Asuka bellowing with laughter.

"Oh come on, you're such a klutz sometimes, Shinji!"

Shinji, picking himself up, launched a snowball in Asuka's direction, which the fiery red-head managed to duck. Sticking her tongue out and blowing a raspberry, Asuka ran off in the direction of the beach.

"Too slow, Baka Shinji, got try harder if you wanna catch Asuka Langley Soryu!" she shouted.

"Don't I know it!" he shouted back, giving chase.

Chasing Asuka through the city, it didn't take long before they reached the beach and the "graveyard." As Shinji made his way towards the tombstones, Asuka decided to stay a distance away feeling that Shinji needed some time alone. Looking out to the Sea of LCL, Asuka took in, what she saw as, the repulsive sight of Lilith. In the life she had before Third Impact and Instrumentality, Asuka had not been friends at all with Rei Ayanami. She had seen Rei as nothing more than a doll, a puppet pulled by her master, Gendo Ikari's, strings, but that hadn't been the only reason for her dislike of the pilot of Unit 00. Asuka shifted her gaze from Lilith to Shinji as her eyes glazed over and she became lost in thought.

"_I suppose I saw her as a rival. A rival as an Eva Pilot, a rival as a leader...and a rival for Shinji. I hated her, she was just a doll that I thought tried steal away the love I wanted...like mama's doll. At the time, I didn't know that Shinji cared for her like a sibling; I thought he may have wanted her, so I despised their closeness. I despised how he talked to her and spent time with her instead of me, even though she behaved like an emotionless zombie. Then comes along Instrumentality, and I realise that Shinji did care for me, but that it was my fault that he never said anything. The way I acted, I made him think that I wasn't interested in him, that I thought he was below me, of course Shinji wasn't as open with his feelings either, so it was a two way thing, but I can't help but wish that things were different." _

Asuka continued to watch Shinji, before letting out a sigh of frustration and flopping backwards onto the snow.

"Ugh, I just want...I want to forget everything that happened before, I just want to start anew," she whispered.

Asuka continued to stare into the sky as snow began to fall again.

"I just want to let go of the past and move on...maybe with you." she said.

* * *

Shinji knelt next to the graves of his lost friends, placing a single rose on each. He soon found however that he was a few flowers short; standing up Shinji took a few steps backwards as he took in the sight of the graveyard he had created.

"I'm sorry that there isn't enough," he said. "Flowers are pretty hard to come by now."

Shinji continued to watch the graves as snow once again began to descend. He began to feel an overwhelming sense of sadness as memories of his old friends flooded his mind. At last he spoke.

"I have this feeling inside me now, that tells me that I should move on, that I should let go of everything that held me back before. The thing is, I don't know whether or not there are some things that I shouldn't let go of, that there are some things that I should keep close to my heart forever. I don't want to keep coming back here, because it hurts too much to remember, but I know that I should respect and value what you all meant to me."

Thrusting his hands through his hair, Shinji growled in frustration.

"I just want to let go of the past, I just want to make a new life. Asuka and I have been given a second chance, but there are still some things that need to be dealt with between us."

Turning around Shinji could see that the person in question was lying back in the snow looking to the heavens. Turning back, he bowed towards the graves, and with a wave of his hand, he made his way back towards Asuka.

"Why is remembering the past so painful?" he asked himself.

* * *

After the two teenagers left the beach, it had taken a full hour to find a DIY store with the equipment and parts that they needed to fix the apartments generator due to the fact that, whilst they knew their way around Tokyo-3 very well, they had never noticed any kind of Do-It-Yourself stores; they had never needed to fix anything, add in the fact that Asuka had wanted to have several snowball fights on the way and that Shinji was forced to carry all of the stuff that they had found around the city, made it a particularly arduous walk for the boy.

"You're such a child, Asuka, getting so worked up over snow!" said Shinji.

Asuka, who was in the process of rolling another snowball, dropped said snowball, placed her hands on her hips, leaned forward so that their noses were almost touching and stared directly at Shinji.

"Well the fact that I HAVE a child like side shows that I can at least enjoy myself unlike you, mister grumpy," she said, playfully flicking his nose as she finished.

"Hey, I do know how to enjoy myself, I just don't like being turned into the abominable snowman by a girl who can throw snowballs faster than a machine gun can fire bullets!" he protested, rubbing his nose gently, and sticking his tongue out.

"Well learn how to duck then, you dork!" she cried as she turned and ran around the nearest corner."Come on you slow poke, we've got to get back before we turn into icicles"

Shinji, whose spine was beginning to bend into the shape of a banana, stopped and laid his luggage on the ground. Sighing heavily, Shinji watched the snow fall, and closed his eyes. Even though there wasn't a breeze, the cold air was refreshing. Taken in a lung full of air, Shinji took a few moments to enjoy the peace and quiet.

"SHINJI, hurry up will you, come here. Look what I've found!" cried Asuka.

Grumbling, Shinji lifted up all of their bags and loot and turned the corner. The sight that met him did not, and had never, filled him with any kind of awe, more like cold dread.

It was their old school

* * *

"_Why do I fear it? Why does it make me feel inferior?"_thought Rei.

Since her meeting with the entity on the beach, Rei had been obsessing over that meeting, unable to let it go. When she had fused with Adam, Rei had become aware of the true reasons behind the Angels and their attacks. The Angels were the children of Adam and the human race were the children of Lilith. The Angels were meant to inherit the earth, but due to unavoidable circumstances, Adam was impaled on his own Lance of Longinus and Lilith's spawn became the owners of the Earth. With this knowledge and the sheer power she had been granted, Rei had become a god-like being and in effect she still was. This entity, however, felt much much older than both Lilith and Adam, and it frightened her. It was much older, and in Rei's reasoning, much wiser. It was a serious and pertinent threat, but there were many questions that still bugged the blue haired girl.

"_Why did it specifically state that it wanted Ikari and Soryu, there are many more humans around the globe that have found form again, so why them specifically?"__  
_  
After a while, Rei lifted her head and looked up towards the heavens, as if she was looking at something specifically.

"Help will not come in the form of Evangelion this time," she said aloud."No, Mankind must prove that they have the right to exist or they will perish. I am sorry Shinji, but your mother and your father were fools. When they were alive and together, they wanted nothing more than to create a bright future for the entire human race. In the end, they may just have brought about the final judgement of humanity."

Turning her head from the sky, Rei looked towards the snow covered building that was Misato's apartment, her face as impassive as ever.

"But I fear that your fate has already been decided."

* * *

"Oh come on don't be such a wimp, Shinji. There might some more essential things in there!" moaned Asuka.

"Yeah like hundreds of maths textbooks and pencil sharpeners," grumbled Shinji.

"What did you say?" shouted Asuka.

They had been arguing for over half an hour about whether or not to go into the school. Shinji had no desire to enter the school, partly because of the painful memories of his friends that it would bring back, but partly because the building itself had been badly damaged during Instrumentality and looked as if it would collapse if someone so much as belched. Asuka, however, was adamant that they should go in, leading Shinji to believe that she had an ulterior motive for wanting to check the school out.

"Nothing. Anyway we've got all we need Asuka, and you said yourself that we should get back before we turn into icicles," he reasoned.

"Fine then, I'll go by myself, but what if some new monster created by the weird and freaky Instrumentality gets me, huh, Shinji?" she said.

Shinji knew that she was goading him and he found the idea that there was some kind of monster lurking in the shadows ridiculous. Then again, he did used to pilot an enormous robot to fight infinitely powerful beings and he had promised that he would never leave her, a promise Shinji fully intended to keep.

"_Who knows what Instrumentality may have brought into this world."_he thought.

"Fine then, let's go, but can we spend as little time as possible in there? It looks as if it could fall apart at any moment," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose

Asuka, leaping forward and grabbing Shinji by the hand, pulled him in the direction of the school. As they made their way through the entrance, Shinji felt an awful sense of foreboding. Would he be haunted by his friends, blaming him for everything that had happened, or was it something else?

Opening the front door, Asuka, who was totally unfazed by the fact that the reception area was left undamaged, let go of Shinji's hand and ran through a nearby corridor to her left.

"Race you to our old class Shinji!" she cried.

Shinji was about to give chase when the sound of a door sliding shut, from his right caught his attention. Forgetting all about Asuka, Shinji moved slowly towards the where he had heard the noise, curiosity getting the better of him. As he entered the corridor Shinji became aware that that something was not right. To his left the wall was covered with posters and leaflets inviting anyone to gatherings, dances and the like. To Shinji's right was the door that had shut all by itself, and the windows that separated the class from the corridor. Walking past the door, Shinji froze in his tracks, his blood running cold. In his peripheral vision Shinji was aware of two people standing facing one another on the other side of the windows. Turning his head slowly, Shinji saw that the two figures were not discernible, they were merely dark silhouettes, the only thing he could make out that one was female and the other was male. As he continued to stare, not knowing what to do, Shinji stood stock still, waiting.

"Did you hear about that new kid a couple years below us, they say he's gone missing," said the female.

"Yeah, apparently he's the new guy's little brother," said the male.

"What new guy?" asked the female.

"You know, that guy with the short brown hair who sits at the back of class, what's his name...Mugen Watanabe, or something," said the male.

"Well that may be, but that's the second person to go missing from the school in two months, what the hell is going on?" said the female, her voice slightly panicked.

"Don't worry, you won't go missing, I mean you're the most popular and gorgeous girl in school, Saki, no one can take their eyes of you for a minute," said the male.

"Oh, you're such a flirt. Hey here's the teacher," said the female.

As she finished, the two disappeared as they took their seats. Shinji, who by this time had found he was able to move, hesitated as his hand rested on the door handle. What was going to be behind the door when he opened it? Swallowing his courage, Shinji slid the door open as quickly as he could.

To find an empty classroom.

* * *

Asuka had found her old classroom with relative ease; she had spent a year going to and from it, after all. Sliding the door open, Asuka walked into the classroom, the memories of the time she spent here hitting her with tremendous force.

"_My real reason for coming here was so that...I could honour my friends, like Shinji had with his graveyard...when I say friends I mean you Hikari, apart from Shinji, you were the only other true friend I had."__  
_  
Making her way through the desks and chairs, Asuka found her desk and took a seat. As she stared at the chalkboard at the front, Asuka lifted her elbow up onto the table and she rested her head in her hand.

"_I didn't exactly enjoy myself here, I had already been to college, but I enjoyed spending time with Hikari. She was the exact opposite of me, sweet, kind, ever so slightly introverted, but we got on. I miss her_."

Shifting her gaze, Asuka's eyes landed upon Shinji's desk and she immediately became aware of his absence.

"Where the hell is that lunkhead?" she said impatiently

"Y'know when I still had a body, I never realised that you liked Shinji," said a familiar voice.

Asuka, who was still staring at Shinji's desk, jumped from her chair at the sound of the voice. Staring at the front of the class, where the voice had come from, Asuka was shocked by the sight that met her.

"Hikari?" she said, shocked."But...you can't be here...can you?" she asked.

Hikari giggled, placing a hand over her mouth, and moved from her place at the front of the class. Pulling Shinji's chair from his desk, Hikari took a seat and smiled at her old friend.

"I'm honestly flattered that you miss me, Asuka. I would never have thought that I mattered at all to you," said Hikari, still smiling.

"Hikari...you were my friend, I cared about you, even if I didn't show it much," said Asuka, hurt slightly by the suggestion that she had just used Hikari as a convenience friend.

"I'm not here to affirm our friendship, Asuka. Seriously though, you used to call Shinji a baka all the time, but there were times that I kinda thought you were just as Baka as him!" said Hikari seriously

Asuka was shocked by Hikari and her bluntness. Before Third Impact, Hikari could have been described as a bit of a wallflower, so much so that Asuka would never have expected the young girl to be like this, especially not with her.

"What do you mean, Hikari?" said Asuka defensively.

"I mean that you used to make fun of me that I could never tell Suzuhara that I liked him, but you were exactly the same with Shinji. Granted that when you did try, he didn't get the message but then you always did it in a roundabout way!" said Hikari

"_What does she mean a round-about way? I kissed that idiot for god sake!"_

"Take when you kissed for-"

"How do you know about that!?" screeched Asuka

"Does everyone in the world merged together as one ring a bell, Asuka?" Hikari said nonchalantly. "As I was saying, take when you kissed. You told Shinji that you were bored and so you made him think that you were only kissing him because you wanted to kill time."

"It's not my fault that Shinji was so stupid, if he couldn't discern mixed signals then-"

"But you weren't much good at it either, Asuka." interrupted Hikari."But there was another reason for your round-about way of doing things, wasn't there?"

Asuka merely stared at Hikari waiting for her to speak.

"You were afraid that you'd find happiness for the first time in your life. You were frightened that Shinji could actually make you happy if you admitted that you cared for him. But why were you frightened of happiness Asuka? It really isn't something you should be afraid of."

As Hikari continued to speak, Asuka had turned her head towards her desk and had begun to tremble.

"Shut...Shut up Hikari." she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"You believed that you didn't deserve happiness because of the kind of person you were, because of everything that had happened to you. It's odd isn't it, that you portrayed this image of vanity on the outside, but on the inside you hated yourself.

"SHUT UP," screamed Asuka.

Lifting herself up from the desk, Asuka turned and ran in the direction of the door.

* * *

"Asuka, are you in here?" said Shinji, opening his old classroom door.

The interior of the classroom hadn't changed at all; the only thing worthy of note was that Asuka's chair was toppled over.

"She's been here then," he said quietly.

Closing the door, Shinji stopped as he began moving up the corridor when he saw something in his peripheral vision once again. Turning, Shinji nearly yelped in shock at what he saw. There were several silhouettes pressed up against the window of the classroom, all looking in his direction. Though he couldn't see any eyes, or their faces for that matter, Shinji felt as if he was being stared at. Backed up against the corridor wall, Shinji's eyes widened with shock as his body totally froze.

"I can't believe this, that's four people that have gone missing now and did you hear about the first person who went missing, apparently they turned up at the local baths, with their head and arms missing," said one female voice.

"This is getting scary, what are the police doing, four people go missing, all of them from this school!" said a second female voice.

"It was the teacher of 2-B they're saying that's gone missing now, the last anyone saw of her was when class left for the day," said a third male voice.

"But who would want to harm Ms. Tohno? She was the nicest teacher in the school," said the second female voice.

"This all started when that new guy came to the school, I bet it's something to do with him!" shrilled the first female voice.

"Oh come on, you're getting hysterical, the police will sort everything out, you'll see." said the male voice

Shinji, his fear rising to a high level now, turned and fled in the direction of the stairs that led to the roof.

* * *

Asuka had come up to the rooftop right after her meeting with Hikari; the experience had been both a frightening one and an annoying one. Asuka was terrified by the fact that she had seen her friend, who, for all intents and purposes, was effectively dead, though Asuka knew that no one had really died because of Instrumentality. It was an annoying meeting because what Hikari said was true; she did believe that she didn't deserve happiness.

"_All I want is to be happy, but I subconsciously and consciously push the only chances I get away. I knew that I cared about Shinji, and all I needed to do was ask, but I didn't. Was I afraid of being rejected? I didn't think so then, but now that I look back I can't help but feel as if I was kidding myself, that I was just telling myself that I wasn't afraid of Shinji rejecting me, when I really was._

Leaning on the safety railing, Asuka's features twisted into a frown as she gently kicked the ground. Standing up straight, Asuka stared out at the city.

"_I don't want to think about this anymore, I don't want to feel like this anymore. Why can't I just forget about the old me, the me that couldn't do anything right...like Shinji has. I mean, this is a new world, and I was literally reborn, so shouldn't I try to re-make myself, be a better person like I thought before?"__  
_  
Turning and walking to the far end of the roof, Asuka wrapped her arms around herself; the cold was getting to her.

"I want someone to hold me...I just want to feel love. I spent so much time loving myself, taking pride in the fact that I was an Evangelion pilot when I really had nothing at all BUT that. Now I don't have anything and I can't bear this loneliness. Maybe you're right Hikari, maybe I was afraid of happiness before, but I'm not now. The question is, do I still have time to find where my happiness lies?"

Sprinting up the three flights of stairs, Shinji burst through the doors, quickly turning around to shut them. Pressing his back up against the doors, Shinji leaned over, placing his hands on his knees, and began to wheeze and pant.

"Oh crap...I've never...never had to run so fast...what the hell is happening to me?"

Finally managing to compose himself, Shinji turned his head to look up at the sky. He was surprised to find that some of the clouds had cleared, and the night sky was visible along with the stars. There was still snow falling, but it was light. Shinji was just beginning to calm himself when a voice from the far end of the roof caused him to scream.

"Shinji, are you all right?" asked Asuka.

Jumping at her voice, Shinji turned and was trying to open the rooftop doors when Asuka spoke again.

"Hey, Dummkopf, what the hell are you doing?" she asked

"Oh it's just you Asuka, it's nothing I...I just got a fright is all," he said nervously.

Asuka, who could see that Shinji was clearly more than just frightened by something, wondered if he had suffered from the same experience as she had. She found it comical, however, that the other two of the three stooges could do anything to frighten anyone, ever. Deciding against telling Shinji about her experience, Asuka turned and stared up at the sky.

"Just...Just come here a minute," she said.

Shinji could see Asuka's mood was a little low, and in an effort to understand why, he moved up beside her. Looking up to the sky with Asuka, Shinji was amazed at how bright the stars looked through the little opening they could see in the clouds.

"Wow, it's like after we fought the Ninth Angel. You remember when the power was cut?" said Shinji, his eyes lighting up with wonderment.

Asuka, however, did not answer the boy and for a time there was silence. Shinji continued to stare up at the sky, his mind filling with worry. Deciding to look at the fiery red head, he was somewhat surprised to find that Asuka was looking at him, her face pained and her blue eyes watching him, sadly.

"Shinji why did you try to kill me on the beach before?" she asked.

For a moment, Shinji could have sworn that his heart had stopped, as he finally began to feel the biting cold penetrate his skin. All Shinji could do was to stare at Asuka. The snow continued to fall as Shinji tried to find the words to express himself.

"I...was afraid...I was afraid that you would push me away, that you'd reject me. I've never known unconditional love, Asuka, my father never truly loved me and I can't really remember my mother, but when I think about all the things she had done as Unit 01, I don't know whether she loved me or if I was just a means to an end like I was to my father. The only time I've ever known love, true love, was when...when Kaworu told me that he loved me."

Letting go of the railing, Shinji turned around and took a few paces away from Asuka, his right hand flexing and unflexing involuntary. As the memory of Kaworu came back to him, Shinji found himself wondering if the beach he and Asuka had laid upon was in fact the place he had met the final angel.

"For the first time in my life, someone had told me that they loved me, just because they did, not because I had something they wanted or that I was useful to them in some way, just because they loved me. But he betrayed me, he betrayed my trust and my feelings and I couldn't accept that. Because of Kaworu, I had experienced unconditional love and I wanted more, but I had nothing, I was alone. I wanted to share that with someone, and I wanted it to be you."

Asuka had been taking everything Shinji was saying in, it was odd though that some of what he was saying she already knew.

"_I never met this Kaworu, but when I here his name, I see him. Whitish-silvery hair, red eyes, kind of androgynous, what I would imagine a REAL angel to look actually. The things about his mother and father though, I never knew any of that. Why does the fact that he's being honest and open with me for once make me feel...happy?"_

Asuka watched Shinji; he was still staring off towards the beach.

"Ayanami...Ayanami helped to bring you back, she appeared to me, well her voice anyway, but I didn't recognise her. I had been there so long, and after instrumentality all I wanted was to move on, and I wanted you back because I believed that you wanted me. I wanted to make things right. But once I recognised her voice, when I remembered who she was, all my courage and determination faltered. I was terrified that you'd say those words again, I was afraid that you'd tell me you hated me, but then you stroked my face. You made me realise that I could still find happiness, that not everyone hated me."

Breaking away from the beach, Shinji turned and looked at Asuka, his face full of sadness. Even though Shinji had tried to help himself be a better person, there was still a hefty amount of pessimism left in the teenager. For all Shinji knew, Asuka would tell him that he was wrong.

Asuka was, to say the least, surprised by Shinji's truthful admission. There were so many things that she wanted to say, so many things that she wanted to do.

It was then that the railing she was leaning on gave way.

As soon as the railing gave way, everything seemed to slow and crystallize. Asuka fell backwards, shock rising across her face, her arms outstretched. As Shinji lunged forward, his foot slipped and, more by good fortune than anything else, he was propelled forward. Wrapping his arms around Asuka, the force of his body hitting hers was enough to twist the two around; Shinji now being the one closer to the ground. It was then that everything seemed to return to normal and the two teenagers plunged toward the ground. As the two plummeted, they fell through a large tree, it wasn't enough to stop there descent, but it was enough to soften the eventual pain.

Hitting the ground hard, Shinji cried out as searing hot pain cut its way through his right arm and he was left gasping for air, as the combination of the pain and Asuka landing on top of him caused black spots to dance in front of his vision. Asuka also cried out, though Shinji wasn't sure if it was in surprise or if she had been  
hurt also. As they hit the ground, Asuka bounced off of Shinji and landed a few feet away.

"Asuka...ugh...Asuka are you...all right?" he asked between gasps.

Asuka, rolling over on to her front, clutched at her ankle as she moved into a sitting position before turning to the young man.

"My ankle, I think I may have strained it, are you all right?" she asked, the pain etched across her face.

"I'm...I'm alright, my arms...arms a little sore is all-"

Shinji stopped suddenly as the intensity of the pain caused him to vomit; Asuka crawled slowly across the snow and placed a hand on Shinji's knee.

"We're nothing but trouble magnets aren't we Shinji?" She said tenderly, a pained smile spreading across her face.

Shinji, spitting the last of his sick out, turned his head and returned the smile. Standing up slowly, Shinji steadied himself against the tree that had saved them, breathing in and out slowly. After a few minutes making sure that he could move without being sick again, Shinji turned in Asuka's direction.

"I...think it's time we went home don't you?" he said calmly." If your ankle's too sore then I'll carry you."

"You are not carrying me anywhere, it's embarrassing!" she shrilled.

"There isn't anyone around here to see you though Asuka!?" said Shinji incredulously.

Kneeling in front of Asuka, his back to her, Shinji leaned his head to the side and smiled.

"Hop on."

"But what about your arm?" she said, concern evident in her voice.

"I can still move it so it isn't broken, I'll be able to carry you. Now stop trying to find excuses for me NOT to carry you and get on!"

* * *

"I feel stupid, like this." said Asuka

The trudge back to Misato's apartment was both difficult and painful for Shinji. Whilst his arm wasn't broken it still hurt to be holding Asuka they way he was, and the snow was so thick and deep that there were several occasions that Shinji thought he was going to fall over.

"Not much further now, I can come back for our stuff tomorrow." he said quietly

Asuka did not immediately answer Shinji, but when she did, it was an answer Shinji did not expect.

"Thank you...thanks Shinji for being honest with me, y'know from before...on the roof." she said, her arms tightening around Shinji's neck.

"It's okay." he said.

They continued in silence for a while, as Shinji found himself blushing; Asuka had rested her chin on his shoulder and her head against his own. Shinji could not help but feel happy at the physical contact. Asuka's thoughts were running along the same lines as Shinji's.

"_His shoulders are broad, I've never noticed that, and he smells good. I thought that and I'm not even scolding myself for it, Humph, I really must be changing."__  
_  
As the pain in her ankle began to ease, Asuka closed her eyes, hoping that she could drift off. Pressing her mouth and nose into Shinji's neck, Asuka continued to think, as her thoughts began to feel murky and disjointed, threatening sleep.

"_This is what I want, tenderness and kindness. Not pain and sadness...I wish...that this ...could last..."_ Finally the young red head drifted off, as Shinji continued to traipse through the snow.

* * *

The faint smell of something sweet awoke Asuka from her sleep as heavenly warmth enveloped her. Realising she was wrapped up in blankets, Asuka snuggled herself into the sheets. Still feeling a little groggy from what was likely a short nap; Asuka covered her head with the blankets and tried to let herself slowly come to.  
As Asuka lay there, a melodic tune echoed from the direction that Asuka assumed was the kitchen. It took a while for Asuka to remember the name of the tune, but when she did she called out.

"I didn't know you were into classical music Shinji, I thought it was J-pop that you were interested in." she said wryly.

"Hidden depths, Asuka" was all Shinji said, his voice coming from the kitchen.

As he finished silence descended on the apartment and as soon as it did, Asuka pulled her head from under the covers and called out.

"Don't stop!" she shouted."I like _Ode to Joy _too."

An embarrassed silence followed, from which Asuka knew Shinji was blushing, and humming once again filled the apartment as Asuka, smiled.

"_I really do like it, and Shinji's humming is...well, soothing almost. Wait a second...what's that smell..." _She thought.

Sitting bolt upright, Asuka began sniffing the air, as her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Is that what I think it is!?" she called out hungrily."Oh Shinji, it isn't is it...not hot chocolate!?"

"Yeah, I found some in one the cupboards, and we still had milk that was in date so I thought that you might like some."" he shouted

"But Misato always complained that if there was chocolate of any kind in the apartment, she'd eat it, or in this case drink it, then kill the person that brought it in." she said." She said that chocolate always went straight to her thighs...more like her breasts if you ask me."

The sound of giggling came from the kitchen, as Asuka stood up from the sofa. Walking into the kitchen, Asuka couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Looking at Shinji she realised that he was making hot chocolate the old fashioned way; heating the milk up in a pan. As she stared at the young teenage boy, Asuka realised what was wrong.

Her ankle was fine.

"Shinji...my ankle it's better!?" she cried incredulously.

"Yup and my arm too, I had pins and needles forever. You've been asleep for about 3 hours." he said smiling.

"What that hell is going on!" cried Asuka.

Shinji merely shrugged and continued to stir the hot milk. Asuka's expression became something beyond incredulous.

"And your just fine about it?" she shouted, her hands descending on her hips.

"Not really no, it must be something to do with Instrumentality." he said

"We can't just keep saying ""it's something to do with Instrumentality"" Baka Shinji, we have to find out what's going on!" she explained, imitating Shinji

"And how do we do that?" he said, laughing slightly.

"Well first we start of by...we...um...Don't you laugh at me BAKA!" she shouted.

As she finished, Asuka smacked Shinji across the back of the head, though not with the usual strength that she normally hit him with, and turned around, folding her arms, a blush spreading across her cheeks. Shinji, rubbing the back of his head, continued to smile as he stirred the milk.

"The answers will come to us Asuka, they always do, even if we don't want them to." he said.

Asuka, turning back around to face Shinji, stared at him, clearly puzzled by his statement.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Shinji, lifting the pan from the cooker, began to pour equal amounts of milk into two mugs sitting on the kitchen table. Finishing, he turned to Asuka, his face almost melancholic.

"As long as we can get the heating and electricity fixed, I'd like things to stay as they are; I mean just me and you. I know that the world needs people and I miss our friends, but I like it being just the two of us, for now. I never realised before but I love being with you Asuka, its fun if anything else!" he said

Asuka was moved by what he said, and decided to express herself the only way she could.

"Baka." she said, punching him in the arm.

Rubbing his arm gently, Shinji replied, his expression turning to one of sadness.

"I mean, sooner or later we'll find out whets going on, but I just want to enjoy the peace and quiet that we have right now for a little while longer."

Picking up her mug, Asuka smiled, for the first time in Shinji's presence, the sweetest smile he had ever seen and grabbed his wrist.

"Come on over to the sofa you dork, and let's enjoy the peace and quiet together." she said.

As they took their seats, Asuka pulled the duvet around them both and rested her head, gingerly, against Shinji's arm. Shinji blushed at the contact and sipped from his mug.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a time, the only sound in the apartment being their sips. Asuka broke the silence first, turning her head upwards to face Shinji.

"Shinji...in...well...when Instrumentality was going on, when you were rejecting it...you created a world...an alternate reality I spose." she said calmly."One where we're childhood friends, where you're a lot different from the Shinji sitting next to me...I just wondered...why did you create that world and how many others did you create."

The question was definitely not one Shinji expected. At that point in time, Rei and Kaworu where trying to see whether or not Shinji truly desired for everyone in the world to die, if he truly desired to be alone. In the process of trying to persuade Shinji to love himself and to stop worrying about other's opinions of him, they gave him even more control than he had before. In the process, Shinji created a world where the Angels never attacked, where both his own mother and Asuka's mother were alive, a world where Rei was just a new goofy student and Asuka was his oldest and possibly closest, and friend. The Shinji of that world behaved more like what a normal teenage boy should behave like, in Shinji's opinion, and out of this Shinji consciously and sub-consciously created even more worlds.

"It was created to persuade to me to accept that I needed people and to help me to stop hating myself." he said, carefully choosing his words."As to how many other worlds were created, I don't know. I know that there's a world where we get married, a world where I initiate Third Impact when I'm fighting the 14th Angel and your names Shikinami instead of Soryu, a world where my dad's a total goofball, there's just so many Asuka, but this is certainly the original, I created those worlds subconsciously, I don't know what will happen in most of them, but I hope they end well."

"I hope so too." said Asuka."But Shinji...I saw all of those worlds too...in everyone we were all together in some way, shape or form. Me, you, the First Child, Misato, we were all together."

Shinji looked off into a dark corner of the room, his brow furrowing slightly.

"What's your point?" he said.

"I thought you would have wanted to be rid of all of us; i mean we all hurt one another, Shinji, in some way. I would have thought you would want a world without us." said Asuka, tightening her grip around Shinji's arm ever so slightly.

"Pain is as much a part of life as pleasure is Asuka, you guys made me happy as much as you hurt me. It was a part of life that I had to learn to accept." said Shinji.

Asuka, letting go of Shinji's arm, sat up and looked straight at Shinji. Feeling her keen stare, Shinji turned his head to face the young German girl and was surprised by the sight that met him. Asuka was staring right at Shinji, her sapphire blue eye's holding none of the harshness or arrogant traits that they used to; right now they were soft, almost sad looking.

"You've changed Shinji...and...a-a-nd I'm glad...it's given us the chance...the chance to make amends. Since Instrumentality, I don't feel the sheer amount of hate, vitriol and pain inside as much as I used to, and the fact that you're not how you used to be...well it's helped to make sure all of those things didn't come flooding back into me again. Thank you."

"You've changed to Asuka, I mean you'd never have been this open with me before." said Shinji.

As Shinji finished, Asuka flopped backwards onto the sofa and exhaled loudly. Silence descended upon the apartment as Shinji finished his hot chocolate before Asuka had even got halfway through her own. Yawning loudly, Shinji stretched his arms.

"I think I'm going to go to bed, it's pretty exhausting carrying you around Tokyo-3 for two days in a row." he said lazily.

Asuka, lifting her head from the sofa, turned in his direction with a keen stare.

"What are trying to say?" she said.

"I'm saying you're lot heavier than you look, Asuka." he said, a grin spreading across his face.

Jumping up from the sofa, Shinji ran around the table in front of him, as Asuka, who was blushing, jumped from the sofa waving her mug threateningly.

"Don't ever try to joke with a red head who's holding a scolding hot cup of hot chocolate Shinji, it might just cost you your life, Dummkopf!" she said seriously

"Why, I'm just stating a fact, are all skinny German girls as heavy as you are or should I say that your just "delightfully proportioned"." he said, the grin on his face widening.

Asuka, who had now placed her mug on the table, was blushing even more furiously than before. Lifting her foot up on top of the table, Asuka prepared to jump at Shinji, but, as she did her other foot caught on the table and she collided into Shinji, the two falling backwards onto the floor.

As Shinji hit the floor, he put his hands out instinctively and he could have sworn that he heard Asuka sigh. As Shinji opened his eyes, he was shocked at where his hands had managed to land.

His right hand was around Asuka's waist and his left hand was holding onto her breast.

"Shinji, you remember our conversation about Misato and chocolate. And do you remember where **I**thought all of the chocolate went to?" she said calmly, a blush still prevalent upon her cheeks.

Shinji nodded his affirmation, his brow breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Well if you make any jokes at this particular moment in time, I kill you as simple as that!" she said, her voice still calm

It took a while, but Shinji eventually managed to pull himself out of the daze he was in and pulled his hand away quickly. This, however, did not remedy things as Asuka was still on top of Shinji and he had just pulled away the only support she had. Falling, both teenagers blushed furiously as they both realised that they're lips were only centre metres away from one another. Shinji, staring into Asuka's eyes, gulped as the red head stared right back, her expression nervous.

"Shinji..." said Asuka

The two teenagers continued to stare at one another for a time, as both of their minds raced.

"_Should i kiss her? is...is this the right time to?" _thought Shinji.

_"Is it...right to do this now...no i don't feel ready yet."_though Asuka.

Closing her eyes, Asuka sighed heavily and pressed her head onto Shinji's chest. Another few moments passed as the young red head listened to Shinji's heart race; Shinji himself was surprised by the continued proximity and his mind was begining to melt.

"I'm...i'm going to bed, you should to Shinji." said Asuka, her head still pressed against his chest.

Picking herself up, Asuka walked over to her bed on the floor and moved underneath the covers without saying a word. Shinji, watching Asuka move away, frowned slightly.

"_Have i messed things up again?"_

つづく

To Be Continued.


	3. A Moment When Tension Breaks

**_Authors_**_ **Notes: Now this chapters a little shorter than i'd hoped but never fear! the next chapter is going to be twice as long and choc full supernatural wonders and romance!...i hope...**_

**_As always reviews are welcome_**

**_Disclaimer: No matter how many times I watch the opening credits to Neon Genesis Evangelion, I can't seem to see my name in the titles._**  
**_That's gotta be a sign._**

**_No I don't own it..._**

* * *

**A Moment When Tension Breaks****  
****テンションが切断された時****  
****Chapter 3**

* * *

**The Past...**

**The year is 2016**

**Tabris has been dispatched towards his fate**

**Shinji Ikari will fall into despair**

**Asuka has lost her will to go on**

**Rei continues to question her existence and the point of her life**

**Gendo Ikari's secret agenda is going as planned.**

**But SEELE will not allow their plans to be unwrought...**

* * *

_The SEELE conference room was active, or at least as active as it could be. In the centre of the room stood a woman, her age and features indeterminable due to the darkness and shadow that enveloped her. The room itself was dark and somewhat musty in scent, or so the woman believed it to be. Surrounding the woman were fifteen large Monoliths with the words Sound Only and the numbers one through fifteen printed on their fronts. The woman herself was becoming impatient; she had been here for three hours listening to them, and it was only making her temper worsen having to listen to them argue and prevaricate. The third Monolith spoke first._

_"The Final Messenger has been sent to Ikari and Unit 01 and soon the Human Instrumentality Project will begin, but will he succeed?"_

_The question itself was answered almost immediately by the Fifth Monolith._

_"Tabris will descend to Terminal Dogma and open Heaven's Gate and when he does his fate will be sealed."_

_Even though the no eyes were visible, the woman became aware that everyone's attention had turned on her._

_"The nature of the human race is BY its very nature, erratic and unpredictable." said the First Monolith."Take the predictions of the Dead Sea Scrolls for example."_

_"Gendo Ikari has subverted this to his own will and because of this, not even we are certain if the Human Instrumentality Project will succeed or even come to pass." said the sixth._

_"Because of his agenda, the Eleventh through to the Sixteenth Angel's have attacked sooner than they should have, this has brought setbacks to the creation of the Mass Production Evangelions; we have only nine when we should have twelve." said the Eighth._

_"And not only that, we have lost Unit 00 also." said the Ninth."Not to mention that the pilot of Unit 02 is utterly unusable, our hopes rest upon Unit 01 and it's pilot." _

_"We will not-_

_The woman, enveloped in shadows, sighed loudly and stretched._

_"I do not have all day, you know." she said._

_The Monoliths did not take kindly to the interruption, all of them bar the first complaining. When they eventually quieted, the First Monolith spoke._

_"Human nature is certainly erratic, we know that your time is precious, but you belong to us and you will wait however long we wish you too." he said."We will not be stopped, but if the predictions of the Dead Sea Scrolls can be subverted then so can the outcome of the Human Instrumentality Project. It is your task, my dear, to ensure that our plans are not unwrought, find the First Heart and wait. If everything turns out not as we or the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, predicted then your mission is clear."_

_"I know, and don't worry patience is a particular virtue of mine." replied the woman._

_At this, all but the first Monolith disappeared. The woman seemed surprised by this and waited for it to speak._

_"Do not fail in this task."_

_The woman seemed to be offended by this remark, her top lip curling as she spoke._

_"When have I ever failed?"_

* * *

**The Present...**

**The Year is 2016**

It had been a week and a day since Shinji and Asuka pulled themselves from the Sea of LCL and Shinji was beginning to wish he hadn't bothered. The once bustling city of Tokyo-3 was now besieged by a new enemy, and in Shinji's opinion, much more annoying that the Angels ever could have been.

Snow

In little over a week of nonstop snow the ruins of the city had been completely blanketed by the snow, and Misato's apartment was no exception. Shinji had spent nearly all of his time shovelling snow from the balcony area of the apartment and making sure that the forecourt was clear so that they could at least leave. There were at least two problems with this.

"_I've spent all my time doing this so I haven't even been able to leave Misato's at all and Asuka won't go out because it's too cold." _he thought.

Stopping for a moment, Shinji embedded his shovel in the thick snow that lay on the balcony and leaned on the handle of his shovel. Staring in the direction of the doorway to the apartment, Shinji sighed.

"Why do I always get stuck with the manual labour?" he asked himself.

"Because your better suited to it than me and I'm allergic to the cold." shouted Asuka from the direction of the living room.

As Shinji had been stuck with shovelling snow, Asuka, in her infinite wisdom, had decided that it was best for her to stay at the apartment, content to lay in the comfort of the blankets and enjoy the warmth of the various hot water bottles they'd found.

"Yeah and you're allergic to cooking, cleaning and smiling." grumbled Shinji.

Immediately as Shinji finished, something collided with the back of his head causing him to slip and fall over. After a few minutes rubbing his head and trying to overcome the daze it had left him in, Shinji realised that what had hit him was one of those hot water bottles. Smiling wickedly, Shinji picked the hot water bottle up and stood up near the doorway separating the balcony and the living room, awaiting the inevitable.

"Shinji, can you please hand me back the hot water bottle I dropped?" asked Asuka sweetly

Shinji waited a few minutes before deciding to reply.

"I'll think about it." he said, maliciously.

"Ohhhh, Dummkopf, if you don't give me it back now I'll...I'll crush your SDAT player!" she shouted.

"Threats will only make me keep it Asuka, besides my SDAT player doesn't work anymore, the last time I looked it kept saying that there was a 27th track or something and I don't have any batteries for it anyway."

There were a few more moments of silence before the fiery red head finally answered.

"Oh fine, I'm sorry for hitting you, can I please get the hot water bottle back, I'm starting to freeze over!" she wailed.

Smiling, Shinji was about to walk back inside when an idea hit him. Leaning over, Shinji picked up a small amount of snow and made his way into the living room, his hand hidden behind his back.

Upon entering the living room, Shinji smiled at the sight that met him. Sitting on the sofa was Asuka, covered completely from head to foot with blankets, sheets, and several shirts. As Shinji approached, hot water bottle in hand, Asuka lifted her arms from the security and warmth of her blankets and reached out for the hot water bottle. Upon reaching her, Shinji jumped forward and dropped the snow he was holding into Asuka's shirt, causing her to scream in surprise. As Asuka leapt up from her spot on the sofa, Shinji began to laugh hysterically as the young red head danced about, trying to remove the snow from her shirt.

"You...you Baka Shinji!" she yelled.

Shinji simply continued to laugh as Asuka moved off in the direction of the doorway. Wiping tears away from his eyes, Shinji became aware that Asuka was nowhere to be found. Turning around, Shinji was taken unaware by the red head, who lunged at him with a huge amount of snow in her hand and pulled at the front of his trousers and dropped all the snow she had into the teenagers' pants. Shinji, his eyes widening in shock, stood for a few minutes as the cold shock began to permeate his body. As Shinji stared at Asuka dumfounded, the young red head stood with her hands placed upon her hips and a wicked smile playing across her lips.

"What goes around comes around, Baka Shinji." she said.

It was then that everything that had happened caught up with him and Shinji screamed.

* * *

The sky was virtually non-existent thanks to the dark snow clouds, the purple hue that lit the area added to the feeling that the shadows and darkness were waiting to envelop any passing life form. The snow continued to fall, though there was no wind, giving the area an odd haunting quality. The haunting quality was only intensified as the solitary, lonely form of a blue haired girl floated gently through the wreckage that Third Impact had left behind.

Rei wandered slowly through the ruins of the city, her expression passive. Even though her exterior showed no emotion, her mind was in turmoil. What the Entity had said was true, her power was beginning to weaken and since their conversation no human had been able to pull themselves from the Sea of LCL. There was something else; however, that Rei felt made everything disturbing.

Because Lilith was the progenitor of the Human Race and the fact that Rei's soul was a part of Lilith, Rei had a link to all of mankind. She could feel their lives, their very souls moving across the world, whether it be swimming in the Sea of LCL or walking on the desolate Earth. From the thumping of their hearts to the steady flow of blood in their veins, Rei could feel the existence of every human on the planet. What made this fact disturbing was that, slowly and one by one or in small groups, the existences that had returned to individual form were being extinguished, and Rei Ayanami could feel it. The horrific pain that many of them were enduring, Rei could feel in her heart, the awful psychological stress the humans were being put under by this nameless killer, Rei could feel in her own mind. The situation was becoming both desperate and frustrating.

"I know...I know that this being is going to abuse Ikari's place in this world as the crux of Instrumentality, I know that it is this ""Avatar"" that the Entity spoke of, who is killing those that have returned but I can do nothing to stop it. There are so many questions to ask and I have no one to talk to who could answer my questions." she said out loud.

Stopping in front of a ruined store, Rei stared uncaring at the muddy and dirt encrusted window, her reflection barely perceivable. Lifting her hands up, Rei stared at them.

"What am I? What am I if I this power I have is so useless and I can do nothing to help." she said, a frustrated expression spreading across her face.

_"Come to your home, return to where you began."_

The voice seemed to be inside Rei's mind and she was able to clarify that this was not the Entity for two reasons. The Entity did not actually speak to her, but made her aware of what it wanted to say. The second reason was that she recognised the voice.

"Is it you?" she asked."But you...you are dead."

"_You must return to Heaven's Gate and find the Crux of Lilith, the place where her power is strongest."_

As the voice spoke again, the name it had used resonated with Rei, she knew exactly what it meant and she now knew where to go. The corners of Rei's mouth lifted upwards slightly as lifted her up to look at her reflection once more.

"I must return to Terminal Dogma.

* * *

In a forgotten city in a far far away country, a man, about thirty, his clothes shredded to pieces and blood dripping from terrible scars that zig-zagged their way across his body, ran for his life.

His face was a picture of terror, for he had just been forced to watched his older brother die. Running through the desecrated ruins of cars, and rubble, the man stopped, hiding himself behind a nearby wall. Ducking onto his haunches, he listened. The constant slosh and pitter patter of the rain hitting the mud and the sound of his own laboured breathing, for a time, was the only sound he could hear. Exhaling quietly, the man slumped against the wall.

**You cannot run, you cannot hide, when you run i am right behind you. When you stop i will devour you.**

The man's face, draining of blood quickly, made him look like a ghost. The voice had been right behind him, or was it in front of him? He couldn't tell, but he was certain that he did not want to stay. Standing up the man prepared to run when he felt a sharp pain pierce its way through his chest. Looking towards his chest, the man was shocked to see a hand, grizzled and blackened as if damaged in some kind of fire. The hand, it's back facing upwards, turned slowly around until the palm faced upwards and five long, sharp talons protruded from it's fingertips. Moving with lightening speed, the hand flicked forwards grabbing onto the man's chest and pulling him backwards with ferocious strength.

**Are your eyes as pretty as the soft one? Will they light my way, Lilim?**

As the intrusive hand was pulled from his chest, the man was turned around by the owner of the said hand. The sight that met him caused the man to convulse violently, blood falling from his mout and chest. As the man was about to scream, the creature wailed ragefully, and tore him in half, the two separate halfs propelling themselves away from each other.

**Ugly, Ugly eyes! All red with fear, the natural beauty has been ruined, but they are the window of the soul and your soul is beautiful and will return to where it** **came.**

The creature stared at it's hand intently, as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Suddenly tearing it's gaze away, the creature turned it's attention to the sky.

**I cannot find the boy or the girl, but what is the difference between a man and a boy, a girl and a woman. I have no concept of this. I will hunt until my hunger is satiated, i will hunt until the Lilim's have returned to the Seed of their own blood.**

Dropping it's gaze the creature moved towards the top half of the man's corpse and lifted it up by the head.

**Your eyes are ugly, but i shall take them anyway. I simply cannot discard such...curiosities.  
**  
Pointing his index finger at the corpses head, the creature curled it slowly. As his finger curled, the mans eye's slowly emerged from his head. Severing the optic nerves with it 's talons, the eyes fell gently onto the creatures, now outstretched hand. Holding the man's eyes in the palm of it's right hand, the creature smiled as the eyes began to slowly merge into his hand. When it was over and the eyes themselves had completely disappeared, the creature faded into the shadows, the only evidence it was ever there being the dismembered corpse of a young man with no eyes.

* * *

Shinji lay on his back staring upwards at the ceiling; it had been another boring and difficult day of shovelling snow and cooking western food. The only consolation that he had was that Asuka had been in a pretty good mood by the by and that only made living in the hell that he had created bearable. For the past week or so the two teenagers had been stuck inside Misato's apartment due to the snow and it was becoming obvious to both of them that living in the ruins of Tokyo-3 was no longer a viable option. The temperature had definitely dropped further, even to the point where Asuka had voluntarily admitted that she wanted Shinji to hold her in bed; of course Asuka made it as unbearable as possible for Shinji by suggesting on multiple occasions that he was doing something he shouldn't and smacked him for it.

Turning onto his side Shinji listened to the soft, melodic humming that emanated from the bathroom; Asuka was in there cleaning herself again. The tune was definitely classical though Shinji couldn't remember the name.

"Asuka...what is that you're humming?" he called.

There was a moment of silence before the red head answered.

"_Ravel's Bolero."_

Shinji smiled as Asuka began to hum once more.

"_It's the softer side to her that I love, the side that she doesn't often show. I love the prickly, fiery side too but...the softer Asuka is...cute." _He thought

Stretching, Shinji continued to listen as his thoughts began to drift.

"_I remember the first time I realised that I liked her, that she and I had something I common_."

As the tune of _Ravel's Bolero_ continued to make Shinji feel restful and ever so slightly muggy, his mind drifted back once more into the past.

* * *

_"_No matter what, I'll put both Rei and Misato to shame!" yelled Asuka

They had come to this spot that over looked the city at Shinji suggestion, the idea being that the view might help to calm Asuka's temper after what had happened. After a disastrous double team attack on the most recent angel, the Seventh, both Shinji and Asuka had been forced to live together so as to overcome there differences and learn to work together. Suffice to say, the whole scheme had not been going well. Shinji was finding it hard to get used to the fiery German girls personality and Asuka obviously thought it was beneath her to even breathe the same air as Shinji. Things were only made worse when, after another failed attempt to synchronise via a dance routine, Misato had swapped Rei for Asuka, and she and Shinji had aced it first time around. At this embarrassment, Asuka had fled the apartment and made her way to the local store, hiding her head in one of the refrigerator's that stored juice to make sure that she wouldn't cry.

Looking up at her Shinji couldn't help but feel something he'd never really felt before. Since taking his seat on the bench, he found that he just couldn't take his eyes off of Asuka, he wasn't sure if it was just that she naturally commanded attention or if might've had something to do with her mode of dress. As part of the training, the two teenagers had required to wear the same clothes and so they had been giving specially made outfits. Asuka was clothed in tight fitting spandex outfit with a lose fitting pink shirt, although this did not seem to hinder Shinji's imagination. It didn't help either that Asuka's body language was naturally assertive and confident; this gave rise to moments such as now when her hands would be placed firmly on her hips and she would thrust out her impressive chest.

Deciding to try and concentrate on the conversation, Shinji answered her.

"But still, you don't have to squash them."

Turning to face him, Asuka kept her left hand on her hip as she threw her right arm out behind her. In doing this her pose became even more provocative, but luckily for Shinji he was able to concentrate on the red head's voice.

"You're being too simplistic, even if you are a male, I must avenge myself...for their attack...on my pride." she said, taking a bite out of her sandwich."It's a matter of honour now, can't you understand that?"

As she finished, Asuka gulped the last of the juice from her can and turned back to watching the city. Shinji's gaze however, was still firmly fixed on the attractive red head.

"_She's just like me; she's got to prove herself, like I've got to prove myself to my father." _He thought, a smile coming over his face.

Shinji continued to stare at Asuka, as he looked at her in a way he hadn't considered before.

The light was waning across the city, it being sunset, and the auburn colour that illuminated and spilled over the area seemed to cause Asuka's hair red hair to glimmer. From his seated position, Shinji could see that the light was causing her sapphire blue eyes to sparkle and he couldn't help but let his smile widen.

"_She really is beautiful." _he though, taking a swig from his can.

As she continued to stare out across the city, Shinji examined the rest of her body. Everything about her was beautiful; from her shape to her height to the way she moved and they way she talked.

"_Maybe I could get to like having her around."_

"Why are you staring at me?" came Asuka's voice.

Realising he had fallen into a daze, Shinji made an odd cross between a gulping and yelping sound as he turned his head in the direction of Tokyo-3, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

"I wasn't staring." he said hurriedly." I was just thinking...is all?"

Asuka seemed to consider this for a moment, staring at the boy with a contemplative look.

"Let's just get back to the apartment and get this training over with." she said, eventually.

As they walked back, Shinji couldn't help but take quick glances at the red head as they walked slowly up the street.

"_Asuka Langley Soryu..."_ he thought.

* * *

"Baka Shinji, move your fat lazy ass of the sofa!" said Asuka.

For most people, the normal process of awakening tends to be ungraceful at best, especially when sudden. Shinji, however, had no form of grace in him and the sight of Shinji Ikari waking up with a fright was a ridiculous sight. Jumping forward, Shinji made the silliest sound that Asuka had ever heard, something between a yelp and a squeal. Scrambling to his feet, Shinji stood in front of Asuka, his hands placed firmly by his sides and his eyes pointing toward the ceiling.

"Sorry Misato I was only resting my eyes." he said

Whilst the sight she had just seen and Shinji's exclamation were funny, the most Asuka could do at that particular moment was to race her eyebrow, a small smile spreading across her face.

"There's a certain...size difference, shall I say, between me and Misato, Shinji." said Asuka wryly.

Rubbing his face, Shinji responded tiredly.

"What is it Asuka, unlike some people, I've been shovelling endless amounts of snow all day, and why are you still wearing your Entry Plug Hair Clips?"

"Well it's just habit really and what is that meant to imply?" she asked.

"That your lazy." he said pointedly.

Asuka mulled this over for a while, her face betraying a mock expression of consideration. Taking a step forward, Asuka stamped hard on Shinji's foot, a wicked smile revealing her canines.

"What's the point in me doing all the hard labour when you're perfectly suited to it, Baka Shinji." she said sweetly

The two teenagers stood staring at one another for a few minutes, the whistling of the wind outside the only sound. Shinji, whose face betrayed the fact that he was desperately trying not to cry out in pain, decided to try and get his own back on the beautiful red head and pulled his foot out from underneath Asuka's suddenly. Wrapping his arms around Asuka's waist, Shinji pushed her onto the sofa, and after a few minutes of skirmishing, Shinji had manoeuvred Asuka onto his lap and was now tickling the helpless red head mercilessly.

"No-hahaha-stop it-hehehe-stop it you-hehehe-you moron!" cried Asuka.

"I stop if you promise to do some of the shovelling!" said Shinji with a big smile.

"No-hahaha-no way you jerk-hahaha-there wouldn't be any-hehehe-point!" she said.

Stopping quickly, Shinji let go of Asuka, who promptly jumped up when she realised that she was resting in Shinji's lap. Turning around, Asuka's face told Shinji that she was desperately trying hard not to smile, an expression of seriousness trying to form on her attractive features.

"I would have thought that it was obvious, even to one of the three stooges!" she said, her hands making their way to their rightful place on her hips."In the past week, the snow hasn't stopped and the temperature is clearly falling...daily!" she added.

"Oh so you mean that the reason for why we had to share the same bed for two nights in a row wasn't because you li-"

Shinji was cut off by Asuka's hands picking him up by the shirt collar.

"Finish that sentence, Dummkopf, and I'd love to see if you're capable of ducking a terminal knuckle sandwich." she said menacingly.

"Hurk"

Was all Shinji could say.

Dropping him back on to the sofa, Asuka took a seat next to him and sighed heavily. Turning her face towards Shinji, the young teenager realised that she really was being serious.

"We just can't stay here anymore Shinji, I mean even though we haven't been able to go back for the electrical stuff we took from those DIY stores, the apartment's generator is completely mangled, and we'll likely freeze to death with the way the weather is now."

As Shinji listened, his mind wandered back to when they had tried to fix the generator; one of the rare occasions that A) Asuka did something and B) he wasn't shovelling snow. It had also given rise to one point of order that the two teenagers had only thought of when they set eyes on the generator itself.

Neither of them had thought to check the generator before they went looking for parts to see **_why _**it had stopped working. This had caused another argument about where the blame lay; Asuka of course won that argument too.

At the time, Asuka had said something about Instrumentality and EMP waves; it was all technological gobbledy gook and bafflegab to him, but he couldn't help but bring it up again.

"What was it you said about EMP waves?"

Bringing her legs up onto the sofa, Asuka pulled her knees up to her chin and rested her head upon them.

"It's just a theory, but what if the act of setting off Instrumentality caused some kind of worldwide electromagnetic wave to spread across the planet, I mean something as strong as that would knock anything and everything electrical."

Shinji's brow furrowed as Asuka explained, a thought coming to him.

"Well that would explain why the powers out across the city, even in the places that were left in the most pristine condition."

"That's what I thought, and that brings me to my next point." she said nonchalantly.

Turning her head side on, Asuka looked at Shinji, her eyes wide. Shinji couldn't help but smile as she looked at him, because in that moment, for some strange reason, she looked vulnerable. Shinji wasn't sure if it was the way she had chosen to sit or the look in her eyes, but all he could do to stop himself from reaching out to her was to speak.

"Go on." he said.

"Well, Nerv Headquarters is situated **underneath **the ground, so for two reasons, I think it would be a good idea to head over there." she said." Reason number one, thanks to it being underground it won't have snow and also it'll be closer to the earth's core so it'll likely be warmer there. Reason number two, if there really was some kind of worldwide EMP wave, then the HQ would have been protected. Also I don't know about you, but I've got some memories of Fuyutski, Hyuga, Maya and Aoba and I know that before they...they were turned into LCL, the Bridge area was still fully functional, which means the entire Geo-Front should still be functioning."

Shinji noted the trepidation in Asuka's voice when it came to talking about everyone on the bridge becoming LCL; it was hard for Shinji to think about also. Whilst Shinji's return to LCL had been relatively calm, everyone else in the world had litterly splattered apart as Rei touched them, the memories, none of them Shinji's, were creepy and slightly disturbing to say the least.

Returning his mind to the discussion at hand, Shinji had only one fault with Asuka's plan.

"That's a good idea Asuka, but...well when I left the HQ in Unit 01 to help...to come ...well something weird happened to the Evangelion. Unit 01 had wings, and when I lifted off a large portion of the HQ was blown apart. I probably ruined everything." he said lamely.

Asuka, shifting her feet from the sofa, sat with one hand resting on her lap the other resting not too far away from Shinji's hand. As she watched Shinji, she saw the young boy's face fall at the thought that he had ruined their only chance at survival and Asuka's mind began to whirl.

"_Even though he's changed, there's still a good amount of pessimism and self-loathing there when he has to think about himself._

"Well, Tokyo-3 was destroyed by Unit 00 self destructing and the JSSDF nuking it with an N2 mine and here we are living in a partially destroyed city, so it's probably likely that the HQ is still there." she said reassuringly.

Turning his head towards her, Shinji smiled and answered her.

"Yeah you're right Asuka."

Smiling, Asuka stood up and moved in the direction of her room. Turning around, Asuka lifted up her right hand and gave Shinji a Victory V sign with a smile and wink.

"Let's get ready then!" she said, enthusiastically, before disappearing into her room.

Sitting on the sofa, Shinji's mind was in turmoil. Even though he had replied to Asuka in the affirmative he was secretly worried about what was waiting for them in the Geo-Front.

"_What's gonna be waiting for us there?" _he thought."_After everything that's happened, seeing Misato and experiencing that...horrible visions in the school, could the Geo-Front be worse?"_

Standing up, Shinji decided he needed to do something, anything right now; it was the only way to make sure he wouldn't think too much. Making his way into the kitchen, Shinji began to tidy up the various plates and dishes that were stacked up in the draining board. As it turned out, cleaning up the dishes didn't help.

"_What if I see Asuka die again, what if we both have to see that happen? Even though this past week it's been like it used to be, we have fun, we argue, we have fun and so on, but why can't I shake this nagging worry that she might still just hate me for what_ _happened_."

After a few minutes of cleaning and returning the dishes back to the cupboards that they belonged in, Shinji closed one of the cupboard doors with clang. Turning around, Shinji's face clearly showed the turmoil his mind was in, as he rested his head against the same cupboard door.

"Ugh, I really am as Baka as Asuka say's I am, even though we're getting on, even though I'm trying to change, I'm still just as pessimistic as I've always been."

Leaving the kitchen, Shinji walked over to his bedroom door. Stopping in the doorway, Shinji turned and stared at Asuka's bedroom door.

"But I've been given the time to change and I'm going to use It." he said, his voice full of confidence.

* * *

The LCL lapped gently at both the enormous cross situated in the centre of Central Dogma and at the edge of platform opposite it. The room itself was submerged in darkness and shadow making it so that little else other than the cross could be seen; the cross being illuminated by floodlights place beneath the water.

Rei stood upon the LCL, her eyes closed as if concentrating. Opening her eyes slowly, the blue haired girls face remained impassive, but her eyes spoke volumes as the sparkled ever so slightly with the help of the little light the illuminated the ominous room.

"This is it, because of our proximity to the LCL here, because we were so close to it for so long, I can do anything with it. My essence resides within it."

Turning around, Rei floated gently across the blood red liquid and deposited herself on the platform opposite the cross, her back to the huge crucifix.

"I can resurrect anyone I please, whenever I like." She said, her voice carrying a small sign of triumph as she spoke." And it was thanks to you, I owe you much."

Turning back to face the cross, Rei's face took on a concerned expression as her mind dwelled on the Entity once more.

"I cannot find anything in my mind, or anything in the minds of others to indicate what it is, yet I know that it's strength is growing by the day as my own weakens. I cannot waste anymore time." she whispered.

Moving back onto the blood red liquid, Rei dropped to her knees and looked upwards, toward the heavens. As she opened her hands up, as if in supplication, Rei Ayanami's eye's opened wide as a thought hit her.

"_But why is this Entity weak in the first place, what could possibly have weekend it?" _She thought.

Continuing to stare towards the sky, Rei found it difficult to concentrate on resurrecting someone; her mind was still on the Entity. As she knelt motionless on the LCL, she spoke, slowly and emotionless-ly as usual, her voice betraying neither shock nor sudden realisation.

"Instrumentality." she whispered.

Smiling, Rei closed her eyes once again and faded into the LCL.

* * *

The room, in stark contrast to the situation of Tokyo-3 and Central Dogma, was bathed in light. The interior was simple enough, a desk and chair and a small bed. There were no trappings of familiarity, no pictures adorned the walls nor posters or any other kind of homely furnishings; it came across as a room that was not used very often, and when it was it was only to sleep. An electric fan whirled round at full speed upon the desk, cooling the legs of a young woman, her feet being placed upon said desk.

The woman herself was around fifteen years of age, though her demeanour seemed to portray someone much older. With her hair a slight tinge of red and purple and her eyes blue, the young woman was pretty if nothing else, this was topped off by a seemingly odd choice of garb; the young woman was clothed in the same school girl uniform as Asuka and Rei once had to wear. Sitting with her arms resting behind her head and a confident smile playing on her lips, the young woman suddenly seemed to come to life as her eyes flickered open. Removing her feet from the desk, the young girl stood up, pushing the chair right back, and looked upwards.

" Well, you can always count on Asuka Langley Soryu to survive anything can't you, and here was me starting to think that picking Nerv HQ to stay in was a big mistake." she said."You always land on your feet don't you Langley, just like a cat, it's a shame you don't have the grace of one too."

Making her way over to the doorway, the young woman stopped and just as she was about to turn out the light.

"Looks like it's time to resurrect our old rivalry, even more so with that cute guy you've got with you. Mana Kirishima vs. Asuka Langley Soryu...I always liked the sound of that."

つづく

To Be Continued


	4. Moving Forward

_**Author's Notes: **_**Reviews are welcome!**

**Disclaimer: Nope still don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion...well i've got the boxset...does that count?**

* * *

_**Moving Forward, or Those Lives That Once Were, Live On  
前方へ移動したりするとされた人たち、のライブ  
Chapter**_** 4**

* * *

A slit of white light spilled into the small room through the gap in the curtains, lighting the room up gently as Shinji raked through his cupboard.

Picking up a dark blue shirt, Shinji studied it intently.

"I don't remember buying this." he said quietly

Examing it further, Shinji soon found that the shirt was at least two sizes to big for him. Scrunching it up into a ball, Shinji threw the shirt into the corner of the room.

After having cleaned up in the kitchen, Shinji had decided to sort out his clothes, though he found the idea pointless considering that there wasn't much he could take; the extent of his wardrobe were two pairs of school uniform, the reddish pink shirt he was wearing and a dark blue version of the same shirt. As he continued to look through his clothes, he found he was suffering from the same problem as Asuka's; he had no clothes suited for the cold temperature. After clearing away some fallen clothes from the bottom of the cupboard, Shinji found an old suitcase, and after a couple minutes trying to remember where he'd seen it from, he realised that it was the suitcase he had taken with him when he had first come to Tokyo-3. Laying it on the bed, Shinji opened the lid and found something that surprised him.

Picking up a slightly baggy brown Haori from a suitcase, Shinji examined it, his mind racing to remember if it belonged to him. It was then that it came to him, the haori had belonged to his old Sensei, the one he had lived with after his father had abandoned him. Staring at the haori for a while, Shinji's mind whirled with thoughts of his old carer. Whilst he had been old and a little distant , and by no stretch of the imagination was he kind, Shinji remembered his teacher as a good man. In an attempt at an act of kindness, when Shinji had been called to Tokyo-3 by his father, the old man had given Shinji the haori he held in his hands now. Shinji had never really been in a position to appreciate it untill now.

Slipping it on, Shinji found that it was indeed baggy, but was perfect for keeping him warm in the cold weather. Taking a look at himself in the mirror, Shinji could not help but think of his sensei again.

"_i wonder what happened to him, he probably ended up in the Sea of_ LCL." he thought."_I hope he was able to return to LCL in peace and not...in fear."_

As he continued to stare at his reflection, Shinji's face dropped. He was feeling guilty again.

"_I started Instrumentality for my own selfish reasons, i started it because i thought i was unloved, that everyone hated me, i know what i experienced in life made it that way, but i can't help but feel guilty about it."_

Shinji sat on his bed with his head in his hands for a time before a growl of frustration emanated around the small room as Shinji stood up, moved over to the nearby door and smacked his hand against it, his head resting gently on the door itself.

"Why i'm i still stuck in the past, why can't i think positively for once!" he wailed."I promised myself and Asuka that i'd move on, but here i am still mulling over the same old crap!"

Turning around so his back was now resting against the door, Shinji stared upwards at the ceiling. Almost as soon as he did, Shinji's peripheral vision caught something. Slowly shifting his gaze back to his bed, Shinji could no longer say he was shocked or surprised by what was happening to him anymore, because sitting on the bed was the disheveled and scruffy form of Ryoji Kaji.

Smiling, the dark haired man sat with his right leg folded over his left, smoking a cigarette.

"Your still mulling over the ""same old crap"" because of one reason, Shinji. Every choice we make in life , every single thing forms us, our victories AND our mistakes, the only problem is that your stuck thinking negative." he said.

Pulling the cigarette out of his mouth, Kaji blew the smoke that had recently been permeating inside his lungs out into the surrounding atmosphere. Staring up at the ceiling, Kaji spoke once more.

"That's a lot better than my own blood in the lungs." he said sarcastically. "Look Shinji, if you were to forget the mistakes that you made you'd just as likely make them again sometime in the future, the good thing is that you've recognised what are your mistakes and what are your victories."

Shinji, rubbing the back of his head, smiled weakly.

"I can accept that, but...no matter how hard i try, my past still haunts me and all that ever whirls around my head is my failures and my mistakes, no matter how hard i try to ignore them."

The older man, taking a drag of his cigarette, sat forward, removing his leg from its crossed position over the other leg. Leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees, Kaji's face became serious. As he began to speak, the smoke emerged from his nostrils.

"Y'know, you shouldn't ignore those mistakes, Shinji, rather you should remember the victories you've had in your life, remember the mistakes and maybe the lessons that you learned from those same mistakes and turn them power, the power to move forward and make a better life for yourself...and Asuka."

The last part he added with a knowing smile, to which Shinji blushed at slightly. Taking another drag of his cigarette, Kaji looked towards the ceiling again as he blew the smoke out of his mouth once more, a happy sigh escaping his lips. Looking at Shinji again, his face took on that easy and somewhat jaded and laid back look that Shinji remembered, the same look that could make anyone feel at ease and make you believe that the man who wore this look didn't have a single care in the world.

"Not holding Asuka when you first kissed her, not fighting back against Unit 03 when even you knew that you could have fought back and disabled it without harming your friend, not standing up to your father, these were all mistakes Shinji, but you can use these to move forward, to move on. Everything that happens to us in life is an experience, a lesson, we just have to recognise that what we did right and what we did wrong teach us something about ourselves as well as others."

Shinji, stared at the older man for a time, everything that he had said, the teenager had taken in, but he was still a little confused.

"I'm...not sure i understand, Kaji." he said meekly.

At Shinji's reply, Kaji smiled whilst shaking his head gently and slowly. Standing up to his full height, Kaji took one final drag of his cigarette, blew the smoke out, dropped it on the floor and stubbed it out on Shinji's carpet. Placing his hands in his pockets, the older man replied.

"Next time you and Asuka kiss, make sure one hand is firmly around her waist and the other is squeezing something _very _firm indeed, even if you do get a slap it'll be worth it...and a slap in the right direction." he said calmly.

This made a little bit more sense to Shinji, even if it was a little crude. Smiling, Shinji bowed his head, his right hand rubbing the back of his head gently, and was about to thank Kaji, when he looked back up to find the man had gone.

"Squeezing something firm, huh...i wonder if that's how he introduced himself to Misato." he asked, his tongue placed firmly in cheek.

* * *

Asuka lay on her bed, her head buried into her pillow. She had been lying in this position ever since she came in, she had neither the desire nor the inclination to pack, her reasoning being that her body warmer and thick thigh high socks could keep her warm, especially if her theory about the Geo-Front was right. Asuka's reason for her lethargic episode came from worry mostly; seeing that whilst Shinji had been changing, there were still parts of the boy's personality that contained self-loathing and worry, this in turn had made Asuka worry if it was truly possible for either of them to change, to move on. This was not the only problem however, Asuka had been continuing to mull over what had happened between her and Shinji the week before when they had almost kissed. This event had in turn left Asuka wondering whether she should try to form some kind of intimate relationship with the teenager.

Turning around onto her side, Asuka stared at the door, her mind whizzing and whirling around.

"_I want us to become closer, but i don't feel ready yet. I still feel like i need time, but i don't know why."_ She thought."_But i'm happy that our relationship is back to how it used to be."_

As Asuka finished thinking, her thoughts began to dwell on memories of her and Shinji's first meeting and their first two battles herself up from her prone position on the bed, Asuka shuffled over to the window on her knees and began to stare out the window, watching the snow fall and the flakes melt gently against the glass.

"After i died, after Instrumentality and meeting my mother again in that huge mind soup i feel as if all that hatred i had in, all that pain that had accumulated over the years as just...disappeared." she said."I feel...happy, to be here with Shinji, and i don't find it odd anymore."

Resting her chin in her hand Asuka puffed out her lips and made a clicking sound with her tongue.

"I feel as if my soul has been...purified...if that can ever really happen." she said,cynically.

Sighing heavily, Asuka turned around and sat at the edge of her bed, staring for a time at her wardrobe door, which was swinging gently open; after coming into her room, Asuka had half-heartedly looked through her cupboard, knowing full well already that there wasn't anything there that she could possibly take. After a time staring at the door, her eyes glazed over, Asuka spied her old school uniform, hanging just at the opening, and her half destroyed Entry Plug Suit lying in a mangled heap at the bottom. Staring at these two garments made Asuka's mind whirl into action once more.

"Hmph, if it had been the me from any time after the battle with Unit 03, i probably would have lashed out at Shinji, screamed and kicked at him even. Even then though, even though i hated then, there was still a peace inside me that i'd never felt before." she said.

Raising her hand to her chest, Asuka felt her heart thrum gently. Smiling slightly, Asuka stared at her old clothes once more.

"Maybe i am changing, maybe i am becoming the better person that i want to be. If i can really change then that means...that means i do have a future and i'm not just stuck in the past anymore." she said, rising from her bed. Making her way to the her bedroom door, Asuka turned as she was just about to exit, and said.

"Who cares for you, Old Asuka Langley Soryu?" she said."Your nothing but my past."

Before switching the light off

* * *

Making her way into the Living room, Asuka flopped onto the sofa and waited for Shinji. After about five seconds, however, Asuka's patience wore thin.

"HEY, Baka Shinji, get a move on, we haven't got all day you know!" she called.

Poking his head out from behind the door, Shinji stared at the fiery red head, his eybrows raised in surprise.

"Have you got some pressing social engagement to go off to?" he asked." or haven't you noticed that that we're quite possibly the last human beings alive."

His answer was met with an expertly aimed and thrown pillow. Not reacting at all to the projectile which had been launched at him, Shinji closed his eyes and shook his head gently, a small sigh escaping his lips.

"I'll be a minute, i just need to find my old baseball boots."

Asuka, knowing that baseball boots would be utterly out of the question for snow, stared incredulously in the direction of Shinji's bedroom.

"Gott im himmel, why are you looking for them?" she cried."Your feet will be soaking wet before we've even got out of the forcourt...well they will be now considering that you haven't shovelled in about three hours." she added wryly

"I'm not taking them to wear out there, Asuka, im taking them to wear in the Geo-Front, as long as it hasn't snowed there either." he said

Simply replying with an "oh" Asuka went back to staring out of the window as she wait for Shinji.

Emerging from his room, Shinji was clothed in his usual garb of jeans and reddish-pink shirt, this time topped off with a dark brown Haori jacket and his baseball boots hanging around his neck, the lacers tied together. Taking note of Asuka's clothing, Shinji pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Aren't you taking anything,Asuka?" he asked."And are you sure your body warmer is going to keep you warm enough?"

Standing bolt up right from the sofa, Asuka turned around to face Shinji, her hands on her hips.

"Good grief, stop clucking over me like a broody hen, Shinji!" she cried impatienly.

"Oh Asuka!" replied Shinji in mock reproach."I'd never do such a thing."

Raising her eyebrow ans smiling softly, Asuka shifted her standing position, moving her hips a little over to the right and folding her arms, as a small smile played across her lips

"I,the great,wonderful and beautiful Asuka Langley Soryu, am German, as if you didn't know Baka Shinji."said Asuka,grandeously."The German people are used to heavy winters, it's in my blood!".

As she spoke, Asuka threw her arms out, commanding the intention of all in the room. The one person there to see this spectacle was less than impressed.

"I thought your passport said that you're an American citizen,meaning that you must have been born in the US, Asuka, **and** your a quarter Japanese." said Shinji."Added to that the fact that you don't have any winter clothes is probably the reason why your wearing the same clothes you put on last week."

Asuka, her face taking on a ridiculous expression, laughed quietly and without the least bit of humour as her hands dropped to her side.

"Well, yes i was born in America. Houston, Texas as a matter of fact, but i was _raised _Germany, and i also went to college in the US." she said her voice trying to reclaim her normal confidence."Also in regards to my wardrobe...yes your right, i don't have a lot of warm clothing but you obviously don't either, so that brings me to a point of order i want to discuss."

Walking over to the balcony doors, Asuka threw open the curtains with great vigour, and pointed to the wild and wintry conditions outside.

"The point,dear baka Shinji , is that we could just as easily freeze to death before we even find the Geo-Front entrance with the way things are out there." she said

Moving over to Asuka's side, Shinji stared at the falling snow for a time before answering.

"Well, it looks as if it could ease up a little soon, so we could wait for that, and leave when the snow's not so bad, that way we'll have a good chance of making it to the Geo-Front Elevator."

Asuka considered this.

"So your saying that we swap freezing to death _outside_ for freezing to death _inside_, instead then?" she said, her voice full of whimsy

Shinji's face took on the exact same expression as Asuka's had when he mentioned the that she was American. Rubbing his head, Shinji smiled meekly.

"Let's get going then." he said

Smiling triumphantly, Asuka marched over to the front door and beckoned Shinji to follow. Hesitating slightly, Shinji made his way out and turned to look back into the apartment. His finger resting gently on the button to close the apartment, Shinji found himself unable to remove his finger, would this be the last time he ever saw Misato's apartment? Would all those memories he remembered fondly just disappear?

Asuka, seeing Shinji's hesitation, knew instantly what was wrong and rested her own finger against Shinji's. Blushing slightly, Shinji turned and stared at Asuka and the two watched each other for a time.

"Let's go Shinji." She said, softly.

Pressing the button to close the door, Shinji took Asuka's hand and the two former Evangelion pilots left the safety and relative security of the only place they could ever call home.

* * *

Gendo Ikari's office was, to say the least, impractically and ridiculously huge. Containing only a desk and a chair, the office itself seemed to be designed to cause anyone unfamiliar with the inner workings of the commander of Nerv's personal dimension to slowly descend into a gibbering mess. It was the sort of office that only constant trouble makers and the owner could ever feel comfortable in. The girl sitting at said desk, however, could very easily be described as a trouble maker.

Mana sat in Gendo Ikari's chair, a cup of green tea in one and a personale file in the other, reading it intently. The personale file itself was of one Shinji Ikari.  
Taking a sip from her mug, the young women made a face as she swallowed with great difficulty.

"Bleugh, they don't even make decent instant Green Tea at Nerv from those vending machines , these Evangelion pilots must have been fed on a bread and water." she said, the disdain clear in her voice."Though you, Mr. Shinji Ikari, may be a little scrawny your certainly a cutey, probably even more so in person."

Placing her mug on the table, Mana began to flick quickly through the file, citing each page as "Boring" as she barely gave the pages time to settle before the next whizzed past. Throwing the file over her shoulders, and causing a flurry of paper and pictures to explode ever which way behind her, Mana crossed her arms, a her face taking on a pouting expression.

"Come on, where's all the juicy stuff huh!?" she exclaimed."I want to see my little Shin-Chan in action, i want to see his heroic deeds, not read that he's suffered from depressive episodes and feelings of worthlessness since his father abandoned him."

As Mana lifted her feet from the desk, her foot caught a small button situated on the edge. As the button depressed, the office darkened and a projector flickered on at some point behind Mana's shoulder. Looking towards the wall, Mana watched intently as words and images projected themselves onto the wall. Various images of all the Angels that attacked Tokyo-3 were shown, captions indicating their designated number and name. Along with these images came the sight of various Evangelions in battle. The most prominant of these was Evangelion Unit 01, much to Mana's delight.

"Oooooh, you're a scrapper aren't you Shin-chan." she said cheerily."You interest me even more."

Standing up from the desk, Mana placed her hands behind her back and marched happily out of the office.

"Maybe i can find some decent tea in this place before they get here."

* * *

"_Bliss"_

_"My life was nothing before this."_

_"I feel at peace now."_

_"Won't you join us?"_

The voices of the Fallen spoke to her as she fell through the blood red liquid, the voices of millions-upon-billions of human beings merged together as one, speaking as one. The blue-haired girl fell, her arms outstretched, a blissful smile adorning her soft features, whilst all around her, small bright red orbs darted this way and that, others merely floating gently along with her; the souls of mankind itself inhabiting one wonderful existence .

"I have never felt comfort such as this." she said, her eyes closed, the smile still prevalent upon her face.

Bring her flight to an abrupt halt, Rei maneuvered herself into a standing position, her eyes now open, a dreamy look glazing them. As she did this, the soul-orbs gathered around her, the blood red LCL becoming a brighter. The dreamy look dissipating, Rei's face took on a serious expression as spoke.

"Come to me, you are needed."

Reaching her hand out, Rei made to touch one single orb in the millions of others that surrounded her, when the orb pulled away.

"...but...why?" she asked.

There was no reply, the orb merely continued to move away from Rei, as the girl stared after it.

"I hope that you ar right."

Turning, Rei reached out to another orb, and cradled it in her hand. Stroking it gently, Rei lifted it above her head and the Soul-orb began to glow brighter than before. As the glow reached it's peak, a crack appeared across the surface and soon more followed, one after the other until the orb itself shattered into uncountable pieces.

It was then that Rei's eyes shot open, a shocked expression creasing her face.

"No...Ikari...you must not...you cannot leave."

Dropping her hands, Rei shot upwards from her previous point and flew towards the surface of the LCL. The fragments of the former orb began to glisten and shine as the pieces slowly began to merge together. As each fragment fused to the next, the LCL seemed to swirl around the distinct shape that was forming; the body of a slim women. As her body finally began to form, there were a few moments where she remained in the fetal position, before her eyes shot open. Realising where she was, the woman pulled herself upwards, swimming with all her strength to reach the surface. As she broke the LCL's surface, the women's features and attributes became clear; She was a women in her thirty's, blonde hair and a paradoxical mix of stern yet soft features. The crowning feature upon this face was a small mole which resided upon her left cheek.

Moving toward the nearby platform, the woman pulled herself onto dry land and vomited violently, LCL spilling out on to the once dry platform.

Ritsuko Akagi had been reborn.

* * *

"Ugh, this snow is getting on my nerves, i can barely walk in this crap!" moaned Asuka.

Shinji merely replied with an unenthusiastic grunt. As soon as they had left Misato's, the complaining had started, first about the cold, then about the snow. Shinji's patience was slowly wearing thin. What made it all the more worse was that they had only left Misato's apartment 10 minutes ago. Stopping and rubbing his head, Shinji turned to Asuka, a tired expression coming across his face.

"Thats funny, about a week ago you loved it." he said

"I loved snow when it's ankle deep, not knee deep, i keep falling over!" she wailed.

"Just take my hand like i said to then!" Shinji retorted

Asuka stared at Shinji for a time, and indignant expression crossing her features.

"I wouldn't be caught dead holding your hand Baka Shinji!" said Asuka.

"Well you held it when we left the apartment." said Shinji simply.

As Shinji said this, he heard a noise that sounded something along the lines of "Agurk" as Asuka turned her back to him with lightening speed, her arms crossing as she did so.

"I...well...oh shut up and lets go!" she said.

Turning around, Asuka stormed, as best she could, past Shinji her own hand latching onto Shinji's as she did.

It was about half an hour before the two spoke again, after Shinji came to the conclusion that they were lost in the unfamilar city.

"Asuka, let's stop, we're lost." said Shinji

"How can we be lost!?" said Asuka, loudly

"I don't know, but how about we just take a quick rest before my legs fall off." reasoned Shinji.

"Your legs will fall off anyway if you stop in this giant outdoor freezer." commented Asuka.

Looking up to the sky for a moment, Shinji smiled, ever-so-slightly, before taking a seat on small mound of rubble. Rubbing his hand, Shinji watched Asuka as stomped around the vicinity, flailing her arms around and moaning about the snow, which had stopped falling.

"Grrr, this crap is everywhere, what was the weather like before i arrived Shinji?" asked Asuka, in characteristic frustration.

Shinji continued to stare at Asuka as he thought about the question. In the while he had waited on the beach, Shinji hadn't really noticed the weather, though now he thought about it, it must have been alright considering he had been lying in only his school uniform.

"Well, i suppose the weather was normal, i didn't really notice...i had other things on my mind."

The last part Shinji added with hesitation , which in turn caused an awkward silence between the two teenagers; the first in a long time. Returning to her frustration, Asuka continued to moan and whinge about the snow and the state of the city, as Shinji closed his eyes and let the cool breeze whisk him away.

It was the first time in a long time, Shinji thought, that the he had been able to enjoy a cool breeze.

"_There are so many things in life that people take for granted, that i take for granted. I spent so much time worrying and hiding myself away, that i never noticed that small things can help in the bigger picture."_

Scooting himself to the bottom of the rubble pile, Shinji laid back and rested his head as comfortably as he could against the rocks, his head finally managing to clear with the help of the wind. Laying there with his eye's shut, Shinji felt himself drifting off, even with Asuka's tirade going in the background.

"Hey don't go to sleep, you idiot!" yelled Asuka, kicking Shinji in the side.

The kick had no strength in it, at least it wasn't the usual Asuka-like kick. Giving Asuka a dejected look, Shinji stood up and stretched. As he did, Asuka spoke again.

"Look we're not going to be able to find the Geo-Front entrance with the situation we're in now." she said.

"What situation?" asked Shinji, stupidly

"Well the fact that it's been half destroyed, the snow has covered everything and the fact that we're about fifty minutes away from sunset." said Asuka, whacking him across the back of the head.

"Well i spose you could be right." was all he said.

As Shinji nursed his sore spot, he looked back to the fiery red-head, preparing to say something else, when something caught his eye. Looking up at a building, the outside wall blown away and the interior almost completely gutted, Shinji saw Rei Ayanami standing on the what was left and visible of the first floor. At first, upon seeing the young girl again, flashes of images of the creepy and eerie face of Lilith, her eyes yellow, and the incessant girlish giggling echoed inside Shinji's head. suppressing the urge to yell or run away, Shinji stood his ground and stared back at the blue haired girl.

"_What's wrong with me? It's Ayanami,It's Ayanami, it's only Ayanami...she brought...she brough Asuka back...Rei" _though Shinji,desperately

"Hey Baka Shinji, are you alright?" asked Asuka, with only the faintest sound of worry.

After finally managing to quiet to his worry, Shinji turned and smiled at Asuka, secretly glad that she had not seen what he was seeing.

"I'm alright, i've just got to go take a whizz or something."he said happily." Back in a sec."

Shrugging her shoulders Asuka took the seat that Shinji had been occupying on the rubble as the teenage boy moved over to the gutted building where Ayanami still stood.

Even after the people who had come to him to offer advice and help, Shinji still felt a little afraid to confide this reality to Asuka; in truth, he was terrified that she would think him a lunatic. This in mind, Shinji had made his excuse, and whilst he made his ascent to the first floor, he continually checked to see that the red head was not watching him. As he approached Rei, Shinji made sure that they were out of Asuka's line of sight and began his questioning.

"Ayanami what are you doing here?" he asked, quickly.

"Why have you left Katsuragi's home, Ikari?" she asked flatly.

Shinji, utterly used to Rei and her tendency to ignore his questions and interrupt with her own, was still surprised by her question. After taking a minute to think, Shinji answered.

"It's too cold to stay on the surface, and we can't fix up Misato's apartment either. We just can't stay here in Tokyo-3, it'd be better to stay in the Geo-Front and Nerv HQ."

Rei didn't even take time to consider this, making Shinji belive that she hadn't even heard his response.

"You must stay here, you cannot go to the Geo-Front...it is...dangerous, there are many ghosts and echoes there."

Shinji felt a chill travel up his spine as Rei said this, the fact the she herself stated that it was dangerous made him feel all the more worried.

"I know that you wouldn't mislead me Ayanami, but i don't think i could convince Asuka to stay on the suface and to be honest we've probably been through worse than what we could encounter in the Geo-Front." said Shinji."Besides, we have to find out what's going on."

For the first time since Shinji had met her, Rei's face took on an annoyed expression, almost of impatient anger. Looking directly at Shinji, Rei began to formulate her response, when she stopped suddenly, a look of confusion passing across her face. There was a few moments of silence as the two former Evangelion pilots stared at one another. The continued silence and the fact that Rei was just standing there staring, the look of confusion still upon her face, made Shinji feel uncomfortable.

"Ay-Ay-Ayanami...are you all right?" he asked.

As Shinji spoke, Rei reacted as if she had just noticed his very existence, and blinked several times, before a sad smile began to form on her face. When she spoke, the emotion in her voice matched her smile.

"You will have to go through much more hardship, Shinji, before you can truly live the life you want. The future is not set in stone, and your future is constantly changing."

Brining her hand up and resting it on Shinji chest, exactly where his heart was, Rei looked deep into his eyes.

"Be safe, Ikari."

Before she evaporated from right in front of him.

Shinji felt his face burn from th contact with Rei, and thought about her words.

"_What did she mean? is...is something going to happen to me? or to Asuka?"_ He thought.

Shaking his head, and the thoughts away, Shinji made the decent back to where Asuka was waiting. As he got closer, he realised that she was not where he had left her, and panic immediately began to set in as he scoured the near vacinity for her, to no avail.

"Asuka, ASUKA where are you!?" he shouted.

"Over here Shinji, look what i've found!" came the voice of Asuka from the far end of the street.

As the panic began to dissipate, Shinji felt the same cold dread creeping into his mind and body as he processed what Asuka had said.

"Tha last time she said that, it was our school she found and i don't want to repeat THAT experience again."

Making his way to the bottom of the street, Shinji found relief wash away the dread as he took in the sight before him.

Asuka was standing, her hands upon her hips as usual and a satisfied smile adorning her face, in front of the Geo-Front Gateway Entrance.

* * *

Not too far away Rei stood watching the teenagers, her face filled with sadness, the sad smile now gone. Staring after the two as they disappeared through the doorway, Rei clenched her fists tightly as she stared off toward the horizon, with a disapassionate look.

"Being a God has it's bad sides too." she said sadly

* * *

The bridge area of Nerve HQ hummed gently with the sound of power flowing through every electronic appliance. From the most simple light to the most complex computer, everything had power, and the bridge area eminated this in spades. The Bridge itself was relatively pristine, apart from some signs of explosive and gun damage from the very last battle to take place before Third Impact took the souls of the occupants of the bridge. The place where the three operators, Hyuga, Aoboa and Maya, once worked was also pristine, curiously missing the leftover clothes of those very people and the Vice Commander Fuyutski. Further up, the desk of Gendo Ikari, where many a cruel, but efficent, solution to a problem had been made, was currently being occupied by Ritsuko Akagi.

Since her resurrection, she had taken the time to find her old clothes, and after having made it to the bridge area, she herself had tidied up the crumpled heaps of clothes that had been left behind. After a time of silence where the thirty-something woman sat staring at the ceiling, she moved to rest her head in her hands as she began to cry gently.

"Why?" she said."Why have i returned to...this, i don't want to be here."

Ritsuko wept for a time, before she finally found the resolve to stop. Wiping her face dry, Ritsuko stared at her hands as something seemed to come over her.

"No...please...don't...why are you doing this?" she said, her voiced strained.

Clenching her hands shut tightly, Dr. Akagi closed her eyes tightly as if trying to shoo away a bad though or memory. Bringing her fists up to her face, she pressed them tightly against her face, before she let out a frustrated growl. Slamming her fists onto the table, Ritsuko's eyes took on a manic gleam as she slowly reached out to the drawer of the desk. Opening it quickly, Ritsuko pulled a small revolver from the desk, and gently placed it on the table.

"It was Gendo Ikari's fault, that...manipulative bastard. I'll remove all traces of that man for the world...i'll remove everything to do with him from this existence!"

Rising up from the table, Ritsuko moved toward the control area below, and as she began pressing buttons and flicking switches, the same evil look crossed her face, the merest hint of inner turmoil revealed in her eyes.

"And that include his son, Shinji Ikari."

* * *

The elevator doors, squeaked and creaked in a manner that suggested that they were a hundred years old and rust ridden, as Shinji and Asuka stood staring into the darkened compartment. The inside was fine enough, but it was the flickering light and the constant laboured grind of engines that brought worried expressions across the two teenagers faces. Moving slightly closer to Shinji, Asuka nudged his arm gently, and once he had turned to face the red head, she indicated the elevator.

"Go on, or are you scared?" she asked, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

"I'm not afraid of an elevator." he said bravely."just broken elevators that go hurtling towards the ground once the doors shut, i mean it is over two hundred and fifty stories that we have to descend."

As Shinji finished, Asuka moved quickly over to a door in the far corner of the room, kicked said door open and flicked her hand for Shinji to follow. Following her, Shinji realised they had walked into a stairwell, and as Asuka leaned over the side of the railing, She spoke loudly, letting her voice echo all around.

"Would you prefer to take this route, Baka Shinji."

The "Baka Shinji" echoed and reverberated constantly off of the walls, as if some kind of ironic statement. A look of disapproval creased Shinji's features as a thought suddenly struck him and his expression became incredulous.

"They have a stairwell, in a place like this." he said, utterly baffleed."It's over two hundred and fifty stories to climb, you'd probably die of exhaustion and loneliness before you even reached the fiftieth floor!"

Asuka, pulling herself back from the edge, smiled and made her way over to Shinji, stopping just in front him.

"Don't ask me, i didn't design and build this place, i just worked here." she said, cheerily." So is it the elevator then?"

"Yeah okay, but if those cables snap or the power shuts off completely when we're in there, i've got every right to say i told you so." he said

"I can understand that, why did you have to tell me?" asked Asuka

Shinji stared at the girl as if the answer was obvious, before answering, the merest hint of a smile creeping across his face.

"It was just to make sure that you knew, so when you hit me for saying it, i can use that as an excuse for you not getting into heaven."

This response was met with a kick to the shin, to which Shinji winced.

"Come on, Dummkopf, we've got an elevator to catch."

Pulling Shinji by the hand, Asuka marched them both into the small compartment and clicked the button for the ground floor. As the the engines whirled into life, Shinji felt a grumbling feeling in his stomach. Turning to Asuka, Shinji could see that the red head was having the exact same feeling. In no time at all, the elevator began to descend and the two teenagers fears were quelled. The decent would take a little while, and because of this, Shinji decided to take a look out of the small window that revealed the Geo-Front.

It was dark outside and but Shinji could see a pyramid-like shape lit by small lights criss crossing the surface.

"I told you so, didn't i Shinji?" said Asuka from behind his shoulder.

Mumbling an incoherent sound of affirmation, Shinji continued to stare as something nagged at him.

"_Wait...we're in the wrong elevator." _he thought.

Turning around Shinji spoke to Asuka.

"We're in the wrong elevator Asuka, we won't be going anywhere near the the express freight." he said.

Raising her eyebrows in question, Asuka looked at Shinji like he was a fool.

"What are you talking about, isn't this the entrance we normally take?" she asked.

"No i don't think we are, and this elevator will take us to the road that leads to headquarters." said Shinji.

Asuka, shrugging her shoulders, replied with an easy going smile.

"Well, we'll just have to walk, don't complain it'll keep us fit, and look there isn't any snow so hopefully it'll be warm when we get out." she said, hopefully.

Shinji, an annoyed look passing across his face, grumbled.

"I'm sick and tired of walking."

"Your such a whiner Shinji!" said Asuka.

"Says you." he grumbled.

Asuka, hearing what he said, wrapped Shinji's head in an extremely tight headlock and began rubbing her fist into his head.

"What did you say Baka Shinji!?" she yelled, her voice quivering with laughter as she pretended to be annoyed."I'd love to hear you say that again you dork!"

The arguing and "fighting" continued all the way to the ground floor.

* * *

Ritsuko stood in front of the former Commander's desk, her face showing signs of turmoil. Something was happening in her mind, and only Ritsuko Akagi seemed to know what.

"What your asking me to do, no what your making me do is immoral, it's just plain murder." she said, her voice filled with emotion.

There was a few minutes of silence, as Ritsuko stood still, staring ahead, the only noise being the sound of the ventilation system grumbling and twisting. Suddenly Ritsuko grabbed her head and screamed.

"HE'S JUST A CHILD, DON'T MAKE ME DO IT PLEASE!"

As soon as she finished, the doctor up ended the desk in front of her and began to kick it, violently. Picking up the chair, Ritsukp smashed it across the desk untill eventually the desk cracked. This seemed to calm her, as she dropped the chair, panting heavily and tears threatening to fall. Turning around, Ritsuko stumbled towards the door, before her knees crumpled beneath her and she fell to the floor, sobbing. Pulling the revolver from her inside coat pocket, she stared at as the tears continued to fall freely.

"How can you do this to me?" she said."

Placing the gun on the floor, Ritsuko seemed to have trouble letting it go. The gun itself hovered in her hand above the floor, as her face became unreadable.

"No...he deserves to die...he NEEDS to die!" she exclaimed, lifting the gun up to her face and staring at it with complete fascination.

As she did, the door to the office slid open as Mana Kirishima waltzed in through the door, a sandwhich in mouth and a cup of something warm in the other.

"Wow hey guys, whats going on...i can see your busy, i'll just go back to my room and watch Cowboy Bebop then shall I?" she asked, fake shock and amusement dripping from her voice and expression.

Taking a bite out of her sand which, Mana studied what was left of the desk and chair from across the room with disdain. Turning her attention to Ritsuko, her face became a mixture of emotion, turning from confusing to shock and then, curiously,to hatred.

"Grow up." she said venomously."Ritsuko managed it when she joined the human race in Instrumentality, sure she would have been a little bit annoyed, but she still wouldn't go to the lengths that you've gone to over the past twelve years."

Without turning around, Ritsuko replaced the gun in her pocket and replied.

"Leave me alone, Mana, i'm not in the mood."

"You can't fool me y'know, i know _what _you are and i know _who _you are too. I'm not worried though, Ritsuko is stronger than you." she said, the disdain and disgust still evadent in her voice and her expression.

Standing up, Ritsuko turned and walked the length of the room until she was right beside Mana. Stopping she looked out of the corner of her eye at the girl.

"I haven't a clue what your talking about." she said, simply.

* * *

The constant thrum and chirping of cicadas emanated around the forest and the nearby road, completing the atmosphere of an unending heat wave. The tree's rustled gently as a quiet breeze blew by, causing various leaves to to pull away from their former homestead and float gently towards the ground. The grass rustled gently as the leaves landed and everything became a little more quiet as Cicada's continued to chirp. The heat was so strong that the wavering and shimmering distortion that accompanied heatwaves could be seen hovering just above the road.

Asuka stood alone, her head held high, eyes closed and a bright smile adorning her beautiful face as she stood at the edge of an overlook, looking across the entire of the forest that was between the two teenagers and Nerve HQ. The breeze blew her long red hair back across her shoulder, allowing the fiery red head to feel the joyous cool feeling on her bare neck. flexing and unflexing her hands into fists, Asuka revelled in the strong heat that had conquered the underworld of the Geo-Front. Having removed her undershirt, but still choosing to wear her jumper and body warmer, Asuka was now utterly comfortable and stretched languidly, as a heavy sigh escaped her lips.

Not to far away from her, Shinji sat up against a tree, his face red, but not with the heat. The way that Asuka was both stretching and smile was only serving to make Shinji feel "Uncomfortable"."

"_Does she have to do that?" _he thought.

Shinji continued to stare at the feiry German girl, a smile slowly spread across his face as she put her hands through her are and threw it gently backwards, ensuring that no wayward hair made its way in front of her shoulder.

"_Oh god, she's so beautiful."_

Turning around Asuka smiled as Shinji turned away shyly.

"Well then Shinji, why don't we get going?" She asked.

Turning back, Shinji smiled too.

"Yeah, let's go."

As Shinji stood up, he stood still as if thinking.

"Um...i need pee, back in a second." he said, desperately.

"What, you just went for a pee about forty-five minutes ago, you've got the constitution of an old man!" she yelled after him.

Turning around as he contined to move further into the forest, Shinji reubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"I know...i have a bladder the size of an egg!" he said nervously.

Turning and walking quicker, Shinji's face took on a worried look.

"_How can i tell her about what i've seen?"_

Making his way to a tree, and after making sure he was perfectly hidden from plain view, Shinji relieved himself. After he had finished, Shinji began to make his way through the tree's when he became aware of something, _someone _behind him. Turning around slowly, Shinji wasn't shocked by the sight that met him, more disappointed.

Standing, one hand in his pocket, the other resting by his side, was Gendo Ikari.

"Hello Shinji." he said, his gruff voice betraying no sign of tenderness or happiness.

Shinji's face took on an annoyed look, as he turned his face away from his father. This was not going to be easy.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, the hatred evident in his voice."I hoped we'd never have to see each other again."

Gendo, pushing his glasses back into place, took a step forward, a smile creeping slowly across his face. The smile itself was like his voice, it was not out of happiness he smile, more like malice.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked."Trying to survive in this world, Shinji?"

Shinji turned and looked his father in the eye as he answered, his hand flexing involuntarily.

"Because i have to take responsibility for what i've done, there's someone that i have to look out for, someone i care about...i don't expect you to understand that father." he said, his voice wavering slightly, but full of strength.

Gendo laughed hollowly, only for a moment, before he replied to his son.

"You and i aren't so different, you shouldn't pretend that we are, you'll just be running away again."

At this Shinji's hands flexed into fists as he spoke through gritted teeth.

"I'm not going to run away anymore, i'm going to leave the person i used to be behind, father, i'm going to leave the Shinji Ikari who ran away from you and his mothers grave behind. I'm going to leave the Shinji Ikari who couldn't take care of his friends or himself behind, because i have a purpose now, i have a reason to live."

Gendo remained unmoved by this statement, the look he gave Shinji still emanating the disapproval Shinji believed belonged upon his face.

"You made the world that your wading through, you're the one to blame for all of this and all that will happen." he said."Tell me Shinji, what do you have that could possibly keep you alive, that could possibly give you purpose."

Shinji stared at the mud and dirt on the ground for a time, the anger within him rising to such heights that even he, Shinji Ikari, couldn't believe. Looking back at his father, Shinji answered honestly.

"Because i love Asuka, and i want to take care of her, i want to be with her." he answered, the resolution in his voice evident." If we can survive together then so can mankind when they pull themselves from the LCL, and the only way we can survive is if we let go of our pasts and i'm letting go of you and mother."

At Shinji's answer, Gendo Ikari became visibly disturbed by what he said, though what emotion he was feeling exactly, could not be identified.

"Love is what drove me, Shinji, and all love does is destroy you in the end. I cannot be with my Yui again even in the glorious one mind that humanity has become and you will not be able to hold onto your Asuka forever, she will betray you or she will die and you will be alone again."

"Your wrong!" he shouted."You don't know a thing about me or Asuka...I...I-I-I h-hate you..." he said the last part underneath his breath.

Gendo did not seem to here this and was in the process of demanding to now what he said, when Shinji repeated himself, loudly.

"I HATE YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

Turning Shinji was about to move away, when a thought struck him. Turning his head to the side, Shinji spoke to his father for the final time.

"And i'm not running away, not this time. I'm walking away, i'm leaving my past behind. I'm leaving you behind." he said

Gendo's face was, as was natural for the former commander, unreadable as his son walked away from him. Just before Shinji was out of earshot, Gendo spoke. When he heard those words, Shinji stopped, shock rising across his face. Turning around quickly, Shinji found he was alone in the woods once more as the chirping of Cicadas became the only sound for miles.

* * *

Asuka lay against a tree, her eyes flickering open and closed, the heat contributing to her nodding off. Half awake, the feiry red head listened to the birds that hopped among the tree's above, their calls echoing around the area.

"This heat is heaven...but Shinji...better hurry up, before...i fall asleep." she said.

As Asuka began to slump further and further, she was startled awake by a voice. The voice spoke as if right by her ear.

"Hehehe, your lucky Vice-Commander, I mean all you got away with was a warning when you tried to uncover the truth to the world, but Shinchiro, man he was not the luckiest guy in the world in life and he sure as hell wasn't lucky in the way he died!" it said.

As Asuka listened another voice spoke, this time by her other ear and also a familiar voice at that. It was that of Vice-Commander Fuyutski.

"He was always an idiot, i tried to warn him, i tried to tell him that if he pushed the Commitee and Ikari to far he wouldn't live to see the next sunrise, but no, he wouldn't listen. Now look at him, buried somewhere out in the Geo-Front, missing a few vital organs and his body scarred beyond recognition."

Asuka, who was now standing, looked all around her, hoping that maybe the owners of the voices were certainly not disembodied. The search was to no avail. As the fear in her began to rise, she was startled by a voice behind her.

"Are you ready to go Asuk-"

Shinji was cut of by the surprised Asuka punching him full force in the face. As he hit the ground, Asuka looked over the boy shocked by what had just happened.

"Oh Sheisse, sorry Shinji, you shouldn't have snuck up on me like that!"

The punch that Shinji had received had knocked him clean out, though his nose had virtually exploded; blood was oozing from his nose and dribbling across his face. Seeing this Asuka did not feel the propensity she normally felt to automatically blame Shinji for everything, though it was still partly his fault, she thought.

"Ugh, i'll go see if i can wet my handkerchief or something."

Picking the teenager up by his arms, Asuka pulled him off of the road and over to a nearby tree, where she left him prompt up against the same tree she had been lazing on. Cleaning her hands of dirt and blood, Asuka eyed Shinji worridly, before turning around and making her way through the forest.

* * *

The one thing that caused Asuka so much aggravation and wonderment at that moment in time, was the forest of the Geo-Front. Asuka herself had only ever been outside of Nerv HQ and into the surrounding wilderness of the Geo-Front on two occasions, two occasions which were not wholly comfortable and wonderful memories.

"The 14th Angel, Zeruel and the Mass Production Eva Series, those were the battles that brought me out here." she said as she moved throughout the mix of assorted pine,ash and oak trees, her voice a mix of dejection and sadness."I didn't have time to notcie then, but this place is so vast, and the tree's and plants are mixed species; there are some plants that you can't get in Japan that are growing all over the place."

Stopping, Asuka knelt onto her haunches and examined the various plants that surrounded her. There was Knapweed and Edelwiess growing next to Thistle's and Roses, all of which Asuka couldn't help but stare at.

"They've obviously been planted here by the Nerve staff, but i wonder why, seems like a pointless gesture to me, though what would i know about that sort of thing."

In her life, Asuka had never had much time for the finer things in life, those small little things that most people take for granted. In Short, taking time to smell the flowers or even lie in them had nnever been one of Asuka's priorities, being the Second Child and an Evangelion pilot, though she couldn't help but take time to enjoy them now of all times.

Shaking her head, Asuka brought herself out of her zone.

"Stop smelling the daisy's, Asuka, you've gotta clean Shinji up!" she chided herself.

Standing up, Asuka closed her eyes and listened intently. If there was a stream or a river of some kind, then she would be able to hear it, however faint. It took a while, but eventually she could hear it, the soft gurgling and splashing sound of a stream coming from directly in front of her; and away from Shinji. It was a little bit deeper into the forest by the sounds of it, but it didn't really matter, there wasn't anything to be afraid of.

"After all Shinji and i are the last human beings alive." she said, a smile trying desperately to surface on her lips as worry tugged gently at her nerves.

* * *

**{What are you without Eva?}  
**  
"_I...I'm Shinji Ikari."_

**{But isn't Shinji Ikari a totally worthless being?}  
**  
_"The Shinji Ikari who destroyed the world, who instigated Instrumentality was worthless, but that isn't who i am now, that isn't who i want to be anymore."  
_**  
{Human beings are not capable of such radical changes.}  
**_  
"Yes they are, they are if they try hard enough, and if i try my best then i can move on."_  
**  
{What else do you desire?}**

_"To know love, to be loved and to love someone with all my heart and soul."  
_  
{**This was not something you cared for before Instrumentality, why now?}  
**_  
"Because i'm a different person, i've left my past behind me. Love will complete me."  
_**  
{Will you take anyone's** **love?}**

_"No, only Asuka's. I need her, i want her...i love her."  
_  
**{We will soon see if your resolve to be loved by one particular girl is strong, you are, after all, merely human}  
**

* * *

Shinji awoke with a startle, gasping for a lungful of air, as if someone had just attempted to suffocate him. After a few minutes, a cold clear pain began to make itself known on his face. Lifting his hand up toward his nose, Shinji touched it gingerly.

"Ow...you've got one heck of a punch, Asuka." he said, his nose throbbing gently.

Standing up Shinji looked all around, Asuka was no where to be seen.

"Now where have you gone." he said impatiently.

it was then that a scream rang out, chilling Shinji to his bones.

"Asuka."

* * *

It hadn't taken long to find the stream, and now Asuka was wetting her handkerchief. Apart from the gurgling and sloshing of the water, the immediate area was silent. No bird song, nor any breeze and the atmosphere was beginning to worry Asuka. The moment she had dipped her handkerchief into the water she had the awful and undeniable feeling that she was being watched, and the feeling was getting worse as time went by.

"Baka Shinji, always walking into situations like this. Why does he have to be such a clumsy dork?" she asked herself.

Standing up straight, Asuka rang out her handkerchief and turned, preparing to race back to where Shinji lay, when she caught sight of something that nearly made her yell with surprise.

Not too far away from the stream itself was a large tree stump, which Asuka had taken note of when she first arrived and had noted it as unoccupied. Sitting on that stump was a man, a small penknife in one hand and a dirtied, dog-eared and frayed piece of paper, his head slumped seemingly staring at the knife. It took a while for Asuka to compose herself, but when she did, she slowly advanced forward; she soon wished that she hadn't. As Asuka got within two metres of the man an horrific realisation overtook her and she gasped audible as her hand rocketed to her mouth, more out of a desire to make sure she wasn't about to be sick than to stop her from screaming.

The man was rotting.

Starting from the bottom and working her way up, Asuka saw that the mans legs where cut ribbons, small fragments of flesh hanging from large blister like scars. Moving up to his abdomen, Asuka found her urge to be sick rising, as she observed that his his stomach had been ripped open and various vital organs removed, though the man himself seemed neither to notice nor care. Looking at his hands, the german girl saw the that the fingers of his left hand, the one holding the paper, had mostly been removed, the only remaining fingers being his index and thumb. His right hand, the one holding his penknife, was a little bit more lucky, only having lost its pinky finger. At this point, Asuka begged herself to stop, to turn and flee, but that odd bit of curiosity inside her, that silly little part of human nature that ridiculously tells you that you wouldn't be able to sleep at night if you didn't finish whjat you started, urge hr to go on.

"_I'm not likely to get any sleep if i do or don't look, that is if i get out of this in one piece." _she thought.

Swallowing hard, Asuka took in the sight of the mans face and her stomach curled at the sight. The man's left eye was hanging from the socket and his face had wounds and scars that suggested it had been chewed partially by animals. suppressing the urge to either scream or vomit, Asuka took a few steps backwards, finding herself finaly able to move, when the man began to speak

"Ikari...Ikari that...fucker...he did this...HE DID THIS TO ME!" he screamed."All i wanted was to tell the world the truth behind Second Impact, The Human Instumentality Project and those old fossils in SEELE, the truth behind Yomi Village, but look what happened, not even the "good man" Fuyutski lifted a finger to help me ."

As the man spoke he began to wave the scrap of paper he was holding.

"This...this paper had the truth about what happened at Yomi Village and about Second Impact, and as a cruel joke they buried it, they buried the truth...with me."

The man began to advance slowly forward as his demanour began to become more and more intimadatory.

"LOOK AT ME, i...i used to be a looker, y'know...the ladies couldn't keep their hands off of me."

Against her better judgement, Asuka spoke. The part of her that disliked self pity was screaming for her to snap at the man.

"Yeah and now they wouldn't want to touch you in case something came off when they tried." she said, surprise slapping across her face as soon as she spoke.

The man did not take kindly to this. Lunging forward he slashed his knife this way and that, as Asuka tried her best to dodge. Thanks to the adrenaline coursing through her body, Asuka found her aggressive point and launched her own attack on the man as he stumbled forward thanks to Asuka's lightening quick dodge. Asuka soon found that this was a pointless gesture. Bringing her leg up in a kick that should have sent the man flying, resulted in Asuka falling backwards onto her backside. A little dazed by her apparent failure to hit her target, the fiery red head launched a flurry of punches at the man, only to find her fists going through him. Shocked by what was happening, Asuka was not quick enough to avoid a slash from the man' knife, the knife cutting her arm. Yelping at the pain, and deciding that there was nothing she could do, Asuka turned and ran as fast as she could.

Running through the tree's, Asuka was desperate to find Shinji. Unable to find to the courage to look around to see if she was being followed, Asuka pushed herself to her limit as she burst through the various bushes and tree's that separated her and Shinji. Finally when her energy began to fall, Asuka slowed and gripped a nearby tree for support. Looking around, the man was only a few feet away and running fast towards her, the knife in his hand.

Asuka screamed.

* * *

"Asuka...Asuka...please be alright." panted Shinji.

Upon hearing the scream, Shinji had taken of like a gazelle through the forest and was desperate to find Asuka. Knowing Asuka well, Shinji knew that if Asuka screamed she really was in trouble.

"I promised i'd take care of her...i promised!" he growled in frustration as he ran.

Stopping to catch his breath, Shinji turned around a full three hundred and sixty degrees, eagerly searching for the red head. Something catching his eye a few metres away, Shinji stained his eyes and realised what it was.

It was Asuka's entry plug clips, still attached to her hair, seemingly floating next to a tree.

Moving towards it, Shinji soon found nothing supernatural at work. Asuka herself was on her haunches, her head bowed into her hands. Laying his hand gently on her shoulder, Shinji spoke.

"Asuka...are you alr-"

Shinji was cut off by Asuka, her arms wrapped around his neck and her face nestled into his chest. Blushing at the contact, Shinji put his arms around her, as the red head panted softly. Shinji had no way of telling but he was entirely sure that Asuka was trying her hardest not to cry.

* * *

"So you've seen them too?" said Shinji.

"Yeah it started with Hikari at the school, and then that guy in the woods." said Asuka.

After finally managing to find the road again, and after Asuka had found the courage within her to tell Shinji what had happened, Shinji himself decided to tell Asuka about what he had experianced.

"But i can tell you this Shinji Ikari" said Asuka."THAT will not be happening again."

It took a few minutes for Shinji to realise what she meant, but when he did, he smiled gently.

Silence overtook the two teenagers as they continued to walk the road. Stealing glances at Shinji, Asuka came to a decision, a blush evident on her cheeks. Moving closer, Asuka took Shinji's hand in her own and held his arm with her other hand. Turning in surprise, Asuka gave Shinji a silencing look and spoke herself.

"What?" she said."I'm just making sure you don't get lost, i mean you are prone to it after all."

Blushing himself, Shinji smiled again.

"Thanks Asuka."

The two teenagers walked for a time, untill they finally reached a small path made out in the out into the distance, they saw the the brightly lit form of Nerv HQ only a mile away.

つづく

To Be Continued.


End file.
